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Every data command in cops supports three output formats via the --output flag. The format you choose depends on how you intend to use the output.

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Formats at a glance

FormatFlagBest for
Table--output table (default)Interactive use, quick human review
JSON--output jsonScripts, CI pipelines, AI tools, automation
Markdown--output markdownPasting into wikis, pull request descriptions, reports

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Table (default)

Table is the default format when --output is not specified. It renders a bordered ASCII table with column headers derived from the data fields. 
cops jira issue search --jql "project = ABC AND sprint in openSprints()"
Table cells are truncated to 80 characters to keep the output readable in a terminal. Newlines and tab characters within values are normalised to spaces.

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JSON

The --output json flag produces a stable JSON envelope suitable for scripting and automation. 
cops jira release status \
  --project IP \
  --fixVersion 2026-04-17 \
  --output json

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JSON envelope structure

All JSON output follows the JsonEnvelope contract: 
{
  "schemaVersion": "v1",
  "command": "jira release status",
  "generatedAt": "2026-04-17T10:00:00.000Z",
  "count": 3,
  "metadata": {
    "project": "IP",
    "fixVersion": "2026-04-17",
    "released": false
  },
  "items": [
    {
      "key": "IP-101",
      "summary": "Add rate limiting to API gateway",
      "status": "Done",
      "statusCategory": "Done",
      "assignee": "jane.smith",
      "priority": "High"
    },
    {
      "key": "IP-102",
      "summary": "Update deployment runbook",
      "status": "In Progress",
      "statusCategory": "In Progress",
      "assignee": "bob.jones",
      "priority": "Medium"
    }
  ]
}

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Envelope fields

FieldTypeDescription
schemaVersionstringAlways "v1" — stable across cops versions
commandstringThe command that produced this output
generatedAtstringISO 8601 timestamp of when the output was generated
countnumberNumber of items in the items array
metadataobjectCommand-specific metadata (present on most commands)
itemsarrayThe actual result rows
schemaVersion: "v1" is stable. You can safely consume it in scripts, dashboards, or compliance workflows without worrying about breaking changes between cops versions.

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Parsing JSON in scripts

# Extract all issue keys with jq
cops jira release status \
  --project IP \
  --fixVersion 2026-04-17 \
  --output json \
  | jq '.items[].key'

# Count items
cops release repos discover \
  --project my-service \
  --fixVersion 2026-04-17 \
  --output json \
  | jq '.count'

# Check if any blocking gates failed
cops release check --all --project my-service --output json \
  | jq '[.items[] | select(.blocking == true)] | length'

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Markdown

The --output markdown flag renders a GitHub Flavored Markdown table. Pipe characters inside values are escaped. 
cops bitbucket pr list \
  --project MYTEAM \
  --repo my-service \
  --output markdown
Example output: 
| id | state | title | from | to |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 42 | OPEN | feat: add retry logic | feature/retry-logic | release/2026-04-17 |
| 41 | OPEN | fix: null pointer in handler | fix/null-pointer | release/2026-04-17 |
Paste this directly into a Confluence page (using the Markdown macro), a GitHub PR description, or a Jira comment.

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Using --output across commands

The --output flag is available on all data commands: 
cops jira issue get ABC-123 --output json
cops jira issue search --jql "project = ABC" --output markdown
cops jira release status --project IP --fixVersion 2026-04-17 --output json

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