# Output Formatting

URL: /milo-cli/docs/build-clis/output/
Section: build-clis
Tags: output, formatting, json, table

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Milo formats command return values based on the --format flag. Every command registered with @cli.command automatically supports --format plain|json|table. Formats Plain (default) Human-readable output. Dicts show aligned key-value pairs, lists show one item per line: @cli.command("info", description="Show info") def info() -> dict: return {"name": "myapp", "version": "1.0.0", "status": "healthy"} $ myapp info name myapp version 1.0.0 status healthy JSON Structured JSON output for piping to other tools: $ myapp info --format json { "name": "myapp", "version": "1.0.0", "status": "healthy" } Table Tabular output for lists of dicts. Uses kida's table filter when available, with a simple column-aligned fallback: @cli.command("list", description="List items") def list_items() -> list[dict]: return [ {"id": 1, "name": "Alpha", "status": "active"}, {"id": 2, "name": "Beta", "status": "pending"}, ] $ myapp list --format table id name status -- ----- ------- 1 Alpha active 2 Beta pending Milo's built-in table and plain dict formatting align by terminal display cells, not Python character count. ANSI color escapes are ignored for width, and wide Unicode glyphs count as two cells, so diagnostic tables stay aligned in real terminals. Template Render through a kida template: from milo import format_output output = format_output(data, fmt="template", template="report.kida") Using format_output directly For custom formatting outside the CLI dispatcher: from milo import format_output text = format_output({"key": "value"}, fmt="json") write_output write_output formats and writes to stdout in one call: from milo import write_output write_output(data, fmt="table") This is what the CLI dispatcher calls after each command handler returns. Advanced terminal reports For dense diagnostic output, study examples/outputgallery. The ADOPTION.md guide shows migration recipes and before/after patterns. It shows bounded audit reports, ASCII-safe CI output, drilldowns, topology views, build heatmaps, cache telemetry, and JSON output from the same command data. Keep command return values structured so --format json and MCP structuredContent remain useful.

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- Author: lbliii
- Word Count: 292
- Reading Time: 1 minutes