Output formats

The global -o / --output flag accepts three formats. They apply to the traces, metrics, and logs read commands and to update --check; -o has no effect on config view (always YAML), config get, config profiles list, version, login, update without --check, ingest, logs delete run/stop, or traces dependencies --dot.

• -o table: default, human-readable output
• -o json: structured JSON for scripts and agents
• -o yaml: YAML output

Set a profile default when you do not want to pass the flag repeatedly:

cubeapm config set output json

cubeapm traces services -o json | jq -r '.[].SERVICE'
cubeapm traces search --service api-gateway --last 1h -o json | jq -r '.[].TRACE_ID'
cubeapm metrics query 'up' -o json | jq '.data.result'

Shape varies by commandCopy Anchor Link

Commands backed by a table become an array of objects in JSON or YAML, keyed by the table headers (for example TRACE_ID or SERVICE). Metric queries return the raw Prometheus-compatible API response. traces get returns the full Jaeger-format trace outside table mode. With no results, logs hits, logs stats, and logs delete list print a plain message instead of [].

logs query is intentionally streamed: JSON and YAML are emitted one entry at a time instead of being buffered into one array. YAML output is one document per entry, separated by ---. Process JSON output as a stream:

cubeapm logs query 'error' --last 30m -o json | jq -c '{time: ._time, message: ._msg}'

Presentation flagsCopy Anchor Link

• --no-color disables terminal color.
• --quiet / -q suppresses informational output on commands that emit it.
• --verbose prints HTTP request diagnostics; do not combine it with a stdout parser because verbose lines are written to stdout.