JSON Output Reference

All rdc commands output structured JSON. Pipe it to a script or feed it directly to an agent.

Enabling JSON Output

Explicit Flag

rdc machine status prod-1 --output json
rdc machine status prod-1 -o json

Auto-Detection

When rdc runs in a non-TTY environment (piped, subshell, or spawned by an AI agent), output automatically switches to JSON. No flag needed.

# Produces JSON automatically
result=$(rdc machine status prod-1)

JSON Envelope

Every JSON response uses a consistent envelope:

{
  "success": true,
  "command": "machine query",
  "data": {
    "name": "prod-1",
    "status": "running",
    "repositories": []
  },
  "errors": null,
  "warnings": [],
  "metrics": {
    "duration_ms": 142
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
success	boolean	Whether the command completed successfully
command	string	The full command path (e.g., "machine query", "repo up")
data	object | array | null	Command-specific payload on success, null on error
errors	array | null	Error objects on failure, null on success
warnings	string[]	Non-fatal warnings collected during execution
metrics	object	Execution metadata

Error Responses

Failed commands return structured errors with recovery hints:

{
  "success": false,
  "command": "machine query",
  "data": null,
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": "NOT_FOUND",
      "message": "Machine \"prod-2\" not found",
      "retryable": false,
      "guidance": "Verify the resource name with \"rdc machine status\" or \"rdc repo list\""
    }
  ],
  "warnings": [],
  "metrics": {
    "duration_ms": 12
  }
}

Error Fields

Field	Type	Description
code	string	Machine-readable error code (see ERROR_CODES constants for the canonical list)
message	string	Human-readable description
retryable	boolean	Whether retrying the same command may succeed
guidance	string	Free-text hint (legacy. Prefer next for structured action data)
next	object?	Structured next-action hint (when present). See below

Structured next action hints

For high-value error codes like PRECONDITION_MISMATCH, the error includes a next field with the exact commands to offer the user. Not every error code carries this field. Only those with a defined recovery path. Agents should relay next.options[].run verbatim to the human rather than synthesizing their own command. This cuts the failure mode where the agent invents a command that doesn’t exist. It happens more than you’d think.

{
  "errors": [{
    "code": "PRECONDITION_MISMATCH",
    "message": "--current digest mismatch (expected 3264f8ee…, got 611dfd8a…)",
    "next": {
      "summary": "Provide the current value or acknowledge rotation.",
      "options": [
        {
          "description": "Re-read current digest, then retry with --current",
          "run": "rdc repo secret get mail --key STRIPE_KEY"
        },
        {
          "description": "Skip the precondition (rotation, audited)",
          "run": "rdc repo secret set mail --key STRIPE_KEY --value <new> --mode file --rotate-secret"
        }
      ]
    }
  }]
}

Schema:

Field	Type	Description
next.summary	string	One-line description of what the user needs to decide
next.options[]	array	Concrete actions; each is an alternative the user can pick
next.options[].description	string	Human-readable explanation of this option
next.options[].run	string	Exact CLI command. Relay verbatim to the user

Retryable Errors

These error types are marked retryable: true:

• NETWORK_ERROR, SSH connection or network failure
• RATE_LIMITED, Too many requests, wait and retry
• API_ERROR, Transient backend failure

Non-retryable errors (authentication, not found, invalid arguments) need a fix before you try again.

Filtering Output

Use --fields to limit output to specific keys and cut token usage:

rdc machine status prod-1 --containers -o json --fields name,status,repository

Dry-Run Output

Destructive commands support --dry-run to preview what would happen:

rdc repo delete mail@prod-1 --dry-run -o json

{
  "success": true,
  "command": "repo delete",
  "data": {
    "dryRun": true,
    "repository": "mail",
    "machine": "prod-1",
    "guid": "a1b2c3d4-..."
  },
  "errors": null,
  "warnings": [],
  "metrics": {
    "duration_ms": 8
  }
}

Commands with --dry-run support: repo up, repo down, repo delete, snapshot delete, sync upload, sync download.

Parsing Examples

Shell (jq)

status=$(rdc machine status prod-1 -o json | jq -r '.data.status')

Python

import subprocess, json

result = subprocess.run(
    ["rdc", "machine", "query", "--name", "prod-1", "-o", "json"],
    capture_output=True, text=True
)
envelope = json.loads(result.stdout)

if envelope["success"]:
    print(envelope["data"]["status"])
else:
    error = envelope["errors"][0]
    if error["retryable"]:
        # retry logic
        pass
    else:
        print(f"Error: {error['message']}")
        print(f"Fix: {error['guidance']}")

Node.js

import { execFileSync } from 'child_process';

const raw = execFileSync('rdc', ['machine', 'query', '--name', 'prod-1', '-o', 'json'], { encoding: 'utf-8' });
const { success, data, errors } = JSON.parse(raw);

if (!success) {
  const { message, retryable, guidance } = errors[0];
  throw new Error(`${message} (retryable: ${retryable}, fix: ${guidance})`);
}