> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://octolens.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The --json contract

> --json emits exactly one machine-readable JSON document on stdout with no decoration; progress and diagnostics go to stderr.

`--json` emits exactly one machine-readable JSON document on stdout with no decoration; progress and diagnostics go to stderr. The one declared exception is a long-lived stream command, which may declare NDJSON (one JSON document per line). Errors go to stderr as `{ "error": { "code", "message", "status" } }`. `--json` also forces non-interactive mode: a prompt opens only when stdin and stdout are both a terminal AND `--json` was not passed, so a `--json` run never prompts and never exits 8 — missing input exits 2 naming the flags to pass.

Both halves of the contract are visible in one run:

```sh theme={null}
octolens whoami --json   # exit 0; stderr stays empty on success
```

which puts exactly one document on stdout — the command's own validated output example:

```json theme={null}
{
  "edition": "customer",
  "profile": "acme",
  "workspace": {
    "organizationId": "org_2abcDEFghij345",
    "name": "Acme",
    "plan": "Pro_v3"
  },
  "actingAs": null,
  "transport": "rest",
  "authSource": "profile",
  "scope": [
    "read",
    "write"
  ],
  "baseUrl": "https://app.octolens.com",
  "ignoredEnv": []
}
```