Axit

Accessible Windows apps for screen reader users, built for and tested with NVDA, in one program with one installer and one updater. Every app is made of native Windows controls that NVDA reads reliably, works without a mouse, says the result of each command once, and keeps its questions and errors inside its own window.

The apps

• axClaude: Claude Code in screen reader mode, shown as a plain-text conversation that NVDA reads line by line, with single-key navigation, a message field, and Claude's questions as lists. You are still talking to the real Claude Code.
• axDown: a barebones editor for Markdown and text files that writes a file back exactly as it found it, with keys for headings, links, lists, quotes and tables.
• axJSON: the same editor for JSON, with keys for keys, objects, arrays, items and errors, and a Format command that repairs what it can.
• axGIT: a git manager for one repository: changes, the log and the branches as lists, staging, committing, fetch, pull and push.
• axTerminal: PowerShell, Command Prompt or Git Bash as a transcript in axClaude's kind of window.
• axFile: a file manager for one folder, with an Actions list of every operation that Ctrl+Z can take back, selection, zip files, favourites and the drives.
• axMedia: a player for sound and video files with one queue, speed with the pitch kept, and seeking by key.
• axPreview: a read-only viewer for one text file, with the editors' navigation keys.
• axStart: a program launcher. One key from anywhere, Ctrl+Shift+Space unless you choose another, brings up a search field over the Start menu's programs; Down and Up move through the matches while the caret stays in the field.
• axProcess: what runs on the computer, as one list with three views: the processes with their memory and processor use, the services, and the programs that start at sign-in. End a process after a question, start or stop a service; nothing refreshes by itself.
• axTask: tasks and lists as a folder of small files, moved through as axFile moves through folders. Each item's fields (a due date, done, notes, links to other items) are in a pane beside the list; All tasks gathers every task not done.
• axPass: a KeePass password database, read and changed by ear: groups and entries in the same two panes, the password never spoken, copied with Ctrl+C and cleared from the clipboard after 30 seconds. It runs KeePassXC's own command-line tool, so KeePassXC must be installed.
• axCalc: a calculator as one field and a history: type an expression, Enter says the answer, and every answer stays as a line to read back, copy and recall; hexadecimal, binary and octal for development.
• axClip: a clipboard history. It keeps the text of every copy while it runs, in memory unless you ask; Windows+Alt+V from anywhere brings up a search field over it, Down and Up move through it with the caret kept in the field, and Enter pastes into the program you were in.

The apps reach each other: axFile hands a file to axMedia or axPreview, every window can show its folder in the others, and the Axit menu in every window lists the open windows and starts any app.

Install

Download install.cmd, or the zip, from the latest release and run it; no administrator rights are needed. It adds Start menu entries ("Axit axClaude" and the others), commands such as axfile and axdown, and an "Open with Axit" submenu in File Explorer. Installed copies offer each new release themselves: Axit menu, Check for updates. docs/axit/README.md is the README inside the zip, with the rest.

Needs Windows 10 1809 or later. axClaude also needs Claude Code; every other app works offline.

Privacy, and what Axit works with

Axit collects nothing: no telemetry, no analytics, no accounts. On its own it makes one network request, the update check, which asks GitHub for the latest release when a window starts and can be turned off (Options, General, Check for updates at start). Everything else happens only when you ask:

• axClaude runs Claude Code, Anthropic's program, which you install; what you type goes to Anthropic through it, under Anthropic's terms.
• axGIT runs your git, which reaches your repository's remotes when you fetch, pull or push.
• axTerminal runs your own shells; axPass runs KeePassXC's command-line tool, on your computer.
• Install it now, when an app needs Git, KeePassXC, PowerShell 7 or Claude Code, installs it through Windows' winget or Anthropic's installer, when you choose.
• The AI tools (off unless you turn them on) let an AI tool you pair, such as Claude Code, read Axit's windows through local pipes, never the network.
• Help menus and links open in your browser.

PRIVACY.md says all of it in full, per app, with what stays on your computer. It is also in the zip and in every window: Axit menu, About, Privacy.

Code signing policy

Every release is built by GitHub Actions from this repository's source, with GitHub's attestation of where it was built, and approved by the maintainer before it is published. Its zip is signed with Axit's release key, which never leaves the maintainer's computer; the installed apps and install.cmd install nothing whose signature does not check (docs/axit/SPEC.md AX-3.4).

Windows code signing of Axit.exe (Authenticode, which Windows' Smart App Control checks) has been prepared for SignPath Foundation's free signing of open-source projects (docs/axit/code-signing.md). Once SignPath accepts the project, this section reads: free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation; every release's Axit.exe then carries that signature, and each signing is approved by hand.

Team and roles (GOVERNANCE.md): Dr. Kyle Keane (www.kylekeane.com), author, reviewer and approver.

Privacy: Axit transfers no information to other networked systems unless the user asks it to, except the update check above, which the user can turn off (PRIVACY.md).

Build and run

Needs the .NET 10 SDK, and NVDA for the manual checks.

.\run-axfile.ps1 C:\path\to\folder       # build, then start axFile on that folder
.\run-axclaude.ps1 C:\path\to\project    # axClaude on a project folder
.\run.ps1 -App down C:\notes\todo.md     # any app: claude, down, json, git, terminal, file, media, preview, start, process, task, pass, calc, clip
.\run.ps1 -NoBuild                       # start without building

There is a run-ax<app>.ps1 for each app. Close a running Axit before building: the build writes into the folder it runs from. If PowerShell refuses to run scripts: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\run.ps1.

Test

.\test.ps1                 # every test project, in Release, the way GitHub Actions runs them
.\test.ps1 axFile          # one project
.\manual_tests\prepare.ps1 # the files of the NVDA test passes, made new

The unit tests cover everything that needs no window. What a window does is checked with NVDA, following each app's docs/<app>/nvda-test-plan.md on the files in manual_tests/<app>; each folder's _main.md says which section uses what. Every pass is written down in docs/axit/nvda-test-record.md, by step, version and commit.

Release

.\release.ps1 3.4.0        # checks the changelog section, tests, sets the version, commits, tags v3.4.0, pushes main and, once its build has passed, the tag
gh run watch               # follows the workflow that builds and publishes the release

Add a ## 3.4.0 section to CHANGELOG.md first: it becomes the release notes, which the apps show in their update notice. The Release workflow tests, builds the self-contained Axit.exe, and publishes the zip and install.cmd; the Build workflow tests every push to every branch. .\publish.ps1 makes the same zip locally and installs it for this user.

Without GitHub Actions (a runner image or an action changed under the workflow, or the workflow is gone): .\publish.ps1 -NoInstall builds the zip into publish\; .\tools\release-notes.ps1 -Version 3.4.0 > notes.md takes the notes from the changelog; gh release create v3.4.0 publish\Axit-3.4.0-win-x64.zip install.cmd --title "Axit 3.4.0" --notes-file notes.md --draft and gh release edit v3.4.0 --draft=false publish it, the draft first so that no app downloads a half-uploaded zip. The practices that keep the repository stable over the years are docs/axit/longevity.md.

Where things are

• src/Axit: the program. src/Axit.Core and src/Axit.Forms: the pieces the apps share.
• src/<App> and src/<App>.Core: each app's window and its pure code. Each folder has a CLAUDE.md with its notes.
• tests/: the unit tests, one project per app, and the recorded console fixtures.
• docs/<app>/: each app's SPEC.md, user-guide.md (Help, User guide in the app) and nvda-test-plan.md. The specifications are the source of truth.
• docs/axit/: the bundle's SPEC.md (launch, install, update, release, the accessibility and modularity rules), plan.md, adding-an-app.md, the test record, review-2026-10-23.md (the review of the code and documents, what was fixed and what is proposed), inventory-2026-10-24.md (the copies, dead code and drift, what was cleaned up and what is open) and longevity.md (the practices that keep the repository stable for years, with its calendar).
• manual_tests/: the script that makes the files for the NVDA passes.
• CLAUDE.md: the map and the rules for working on this repository with Claude Code.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Report a bug or an idea with the issue forms; report a security problem privately, as SECURITY.md says. How the project is run and what its maintainer commits to: GOVERNANCE.md; how people treat each other here: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Licence

MIT, see LICENSE. Axit is made by Dr. Kyle Keane (www.kylekeane.com). Use it, change it and pass it on; keep that notice with it. What the program carries from others, the .NET runtime and Windows Forms under MIT among it: THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, and the developer accepts no liability for its use; the full wording is in LICENSE. Axit is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic or NV Access.