Can I Self-Host an Accessibility Tool?

You can self-host accessibility software on infrastructure the institution controls. That can provide more control over operations, retention and configuration, but it does not itself establish FERPA, GDPR or Australian privacy compliance.

Map the data before deploying

List documents, prompts, outputs, logs, backups and integration data. Identify each recipient and purpose. Self-hosted application containers can still call cloud models, LMS APIs or monitoring services. Verify outbound flows and provider settings rather than assuming that data remains on campus.

US FERPA, EU GDPR and Australian privacy obligations have different scope and conditions. Review the applicable regime and contracts with the institution's privacy team; do not apply EU transfer instruments automatically to every Australian deployment.

Plan operations and cost

Budget for compute, storage, network access, backups, patching, credentials, monitoring and staff support. Capacity depends on file complexity, queue configuration, OCR, browser processing and enabled models. Use the selected release's requirements and a representative load test instead of a universal CPU, RAM or throughput promise.

Deterministic scans and model-assisted functions have different requirements. A local model may require additional hardware and evaluation; a cloud model introduces provider costs and an external data flow. Open-source license fees do not eliminate those operating costs.

Aelira's deployment and license boundaries

Aelira Core is beta and is licensed under AGPL-3.0. The CLI is separately licensed under MIT. Review the exact license and intended use, including distribution and network interaction with a modified covered program. The CLI's license does not change Core's license.

Core supports explicit provider configuration and deterministic scanning without a model. Inspect the current release instructions, enabled providers and actual egress. Some supported remediation paths produce partial candidates, while other inputs require manual work or cannot deliver a downloadable file.

Test installation, backups and restore, authentication, worker health, content retention and a bounded document workflow. Evaluate Google, Microsoft and LMS connections in the institution's actual configuration before sensitive content enters production.