Orchard · 0.1.0 source manual

Output and scripting

Choose explicit JSON for scripts and check command-specific exceptions.

Choose an output mode

--json is a global flag and takes priority over --no-color. Without it, Orchard uses rich output on a terminal and plain output when stdout is redirected. --no-color or the presence of NO_COLOR selects plain output.

or --store ./ourcana.json --json members
or --store ./ourcana.json --no-color who
NO_COLOR=1 or --store ./ourcana.json history

Plain output is for reading, not a stable column format. Use JSON rather than parsing aligned tables or relative time phrases.

Pipe JSON deliberately

These examples use the separately installed jq tool:

or --store ./ourcana.json --json members | jq -r '.[].name'
or --store ./ourcana.json --json who | jq -r '.[].members[]'
or --store ./ourcana.json --json info | jq '.counts'

For reliable shell scripts, check Orchard's exit status before consuming output, or use your shell's pipeline failure handling. Treat output as private: it may contain member details, journal content, paths or system identifiers.

JSON shapes differ by command

Commands	Result
`who`, `history`, `members`	Arrays of command-specific projections
`member`	Full serialized member record
`tags`, `journal`	Arrays of serialized model records
`info`	System, counts, format, version and store path
`switch`	Switched display names and event time
`export`	Written path under `exported`, not the export itself
`import`	Source, source format, new member and front counts
`remote`, `whoami`, `connect`	Configuration or identity/feature reports
`estate`	Gate URL and identity results, including per-row errors
`online ls`	Entry metadata with decrypted component arrays
`online cat`	Parsed JSON payload or a JSON string
`online rm`	Pruning report, after any interactive confirmation

Model records use camelCase keys such as entryDate; command reports often use snake_case such as start_time. There is no single schema shared by every command. Local front and journal times are Unix milliseconds. Online entry timestamps use microseconds; token expiry and gate paid-through values use Unix seconds.

Exceptions and errors

or pair --forget --json succeeds silently; do not expect a JSON object. Help and version are plain text even with --json. online rm --json still prompts unless --yes is supplied, which makes stdout unsuitable for a JSON parser during confirmation. Use the destructive flag only when its target and scope are intentional.

Errors go to stderr and are not JSON envelopes. The top-level runtime error prefix currently contains an ANSI color escape even with --no-color or redirected output; that flag controls normal output formatting, not every diagnostic. See exit codes.