Product Feature

Scheduled Scans for Website QA Monitoring

Scheduled scans are automated website checks that re-run on a fixed cadence, daily, weekly, or monthly, with no one starting them by hand. OverlayQA scans the pages you watch for accessibility, color contrast, or design token issues, keeps a baseline of every finding, and emails you only when a scan detects something new or fixed.

How Scheduled Scans work

Add a page URL from the Schedule page in the OverlayQA dashboard, pick a scan type and a cadence, and the first scan runs right away to establish a baseline. Every scan after that is compared against the baseline. Findings carry the exact element they affect, a severity rating, and a suggested fix, and every scan publishes a dated, shareable report at a link that does not expire.

The email is deliberately quiet. You get one message after the baseline scan, then only when a re-scan finds something new or fixed. Nothing new, nothing sent. When something did change, the email shows the page score, up to five new findings and five fixed ones, and a one-click path to add the new findings to your project as tracked issues, ready to export to Jira, Linear, Notion, Asana, or Trello.

Three scan types run on the same scheduler. Accessibility scans run Puppeteer and axe-core against WCAG with an AI visual analysis pass on top and report a WCAG 2.2 score. Contrast scans run the axe-core color-contrast rule plus detected color pairs. Design token scans run a deterministic audit of colors, spacing, and typography, with no AI involved.

Why scheduled scans matter for website QA

• Pages change silently: a page that passed review last month can fail today after a content edit, a dependency bump, or a third-party script update. Scheduled scans re-check it without anyone remembering to.
• One-time audits go stale: an audit describes one day. A recurring scan with a baseline tells you what changed since, which is the question a stale audit cannot answer.
• Change-only email keeps alerts meaningful: tools that email after every run train you to ignore them. OverlayQA only emails when something is new or fixed, so silence means the page held.
• Failures pause instead of spamming: after two consecutive failed scans a schedule pauses itself rather than emailing a broken report, and resumes with one click once the site is reachable.
• Findings become tracked issues: each finding names the element, severity, and suggested fix, and can be added to your project and exported to Jira, Linear, Notion, Asana, or Trello.

Frequently asked questions about scheduled scans

What can OverlayQA scan on a schedule?

Three scan types. Accessibility runs Puppeteer and axe-core against WCAG with an AI visual pass on top. Contrast runs the axe-core color-contrast rule plus detected color pairs. Design Tokens runs a deterministic audit of colors, spacing, and typography. Each schedule watches one page at the cadence you choose.

How often can scheduled scans run?

Daily, weekly, or monthly, and weekly is the default. Daily cadence needs a paid plan; weekly and monthly are available during the free trial. You can change a schedule's cadence at any time from the Schedule page.

Will I get an email after every scan?

No. OverlayQA emails you after the first baseline scan, then only when a re-scan finds something new or fixed. Nothing new, nothing sent, so an email in your inbox always means the page actually changed.

What does the emailed report include?

A score for the page, up to five new findings and five fixed ones, and a link to the full report, which lists every issue with the exact element it affects, a severity rating, and a suggested fix. Accessibility and contrast scans report a WCAG 2.2 score.

Do scheduled scan reports expire?

No. Every scan publishes a dated report at a stable link that does not expire, so you keep a comparable history of the page and can share any report with your team or a client.

What happens if the site goes down?

After two consecutive failed scans the schedule pauses itself instead of emailing a broken report. The Schedule page marks it paused because the site was unreachable; fix the site, press Resume, and scanning continues.

How many scheduled scans do I get?

The Freelancer plan includes 5 scheduled scans, Starter includes 10, and Pro includes 25. The free trial includes 5. Each schedule watches one page, so point them at the pages that change most or matter most.

Can scheduled scans watch pages behind a login?

No. Scheduled scans run server-side and need a publicly reachable URL. For localhost, staging, and login-gated pages, run the same accessibility and design token checks on demand from the Chrome extension, which scans in your own browser session.