Output formats

Every command renders the same result in six formats. Pick one with --format, or the shortcuts --json and --md. Set a default with JEV_FORMAT or jev config set format <name>.

Format	What you get	Use it for
text (default)	A padded table or short lines, colored on a terminal	Reading at the prompt
json	The full result, pretty-printed	Scripts, jq
jsonl	The full result on one line	Log pipelines, appending to files
md	GitHub-flavored Markdown: a table, or a field/value table for single answers	PR comments, $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY, chat
csv	The table only, RFC 4180 quoting	Spreadsheets
tsv	The table only, tab separated	cut, awk

--json and --format json are the same. --md and --format md are the same.

Rules that apply to all formats

• -q removes the token usage footer from text and md. Other formats never include it.
• --no-color or NO_COLOR=1 removes color from text. Other formats never include it.
• Exit codes do not depend on the format. jev screen ... --md still exits 2 on block.
• csv and tsv need something tabular. Commands whose result is a single answer (classify single mode, route, screen, ask) emit field,value rows instead. compact with nothing to decide, and auth login, have no table; use --json or --pluck there.
• --dry-run always prints JSON.

--pluck: one value out

--pluck <path> prints a single value from the JSON result instead of the whole thing. Paths use dots, [n] for an index, and [] to map over an array (one line per element).

jev classify @t.txt -l bug,feature --pluck label                 # bug
jev verify a b -e @spec.md --pluck results[].verdict             # one verdict per line
jev extract @inv.txt --want amount --pluck fields.amount.normalized.value
jev route "$msg" -H refund,cancel --pluck handler --fail-on unrouted && echo routed

Scalars print raw, arrays print one element per line, objects print as compact JSON. Combine with --json to get the plucked value as pretty JSON. Exit codes are unchanged, so --pluck works inside $(...) and if. A path that matches nothing is an error (exit 1) so a typo cannot read as an empty value; batch rows are the exception and print an empty line.

batch

jev batch streams one JSON record per row by default (that is its text and jsonl behavior).

Flag	Effect
--format json	Collect all records into one JSON array at the end
--format md, csv, tsv	A summary table with id, ok, failed, and a one-cell result (label, handler, action, verdicts, extracted values, ...)
--pluck <path>	One value per row, e.g. --pluck result.label

Examples

Post a verification report into a GitHub Actions job summary:

jev verify --claims @claims.txt -e @spec.md --md --fail-on none >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"

Feed match decisions into a spreadsheet:

jev match --dedupe @contacts.json --format csv > pairs.csv

Use a single field in a shell condition:

if [ "$(jev screen @page.html --pluck recommendation.action)" = "pass" ]; then …; fi