Output Modes

How to control the output format of the Nexudus CLI for human use, scripting, and AI assistant integration.

Output Modes

Every CLI command supports four output modes, selected via global flags. The default mode produces human-friendly terminal tables.

Available modes

Flag	Mode	Best for
(none)	Table	Interactive terminal use — rich, formatted tables
--json	JSON	Scripting and automation — raw JSON envelope
--md	Markdown	Documentation and reports — Markdown-formatted tables
--agent	Agent	AI assistants — JSON envelope with enhanced summary

The output envelope

When using --json or --agent, every command returns a standardised JSON envelope:

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": [ ... ],
  "summary": "Found 3 businesses (page 1/1)",
  "breadcrumbs": ["businesses", "list"],
  "meta": {
    "total": 3,
    "page": 1,
    "pageSize": 25,
    "totalPages": 1
  }
}

Field	Description
ok	true on success, false on failure
data	The response payload — an array for list operations, an object for single-entity operations, or null on some failures
summary	A human-readable description of the result
breadcrumbs	The command path that produced the output (e.g., ["products", "create"])
meta	Pagination metadata (present only on list commands)

Error envelope

When a command fails, the envelope looks like:

{
  "ok": false,
  "data": null,
  "summary": "Not logged in. Run 'nexudus login' first.",
  "breadcrumbs": ["businesses", "list"]
}

Always check ok first before processing data.

Examples

Table mode (default)

nexudus businesses list

Produces a formatted table in your terminal using rich formatting (colours, borders, alignment).

JSON mode

nexudus businesses list --json

Returns the raw JSON envelope — ideal for piping into jq, processing in scripts, or integrating with other tools:

nexudus products list --json | jq '.data[] | .Name'

Markdown mode

nexudus businesses list --md

Produces Markdown-formatted tables suitable for pasting into documentation, tickets, or chat messages.

Agent mode

nexudus businesses list --agent

Returns the JSON envelope with an enhanced summary field optimised for AI assistant consumption. This is the mode that Agent Skills use to communicate with the CLI.