Output Modes

Vibe Action routes all output through a single strategy selected at startup. No println! exists outside the output module — everything flows through print_template! / print_text! macros.

Selecting a mode

Set VIBE_LOG_TYPE before startup:

VIBE_LOG_TYPE=json vibe-action code review main.rs

Value	Strategy	Use for
(unset)	`cli`	Interactive terminal (default)
`cli`	`cli`	Interactive terminal
`plain`	`plain`	CI, piped output, scripts
`json`	`json`	IDE plugin / Kotlin-Compose UI
`tracing`	`tracing`	Debugging, detailed structured logs
(auto)	`test`	Internal test mode (`VIBE_TEST=1`)

Mode details

`cli` — terminal

ANSI-colored messages with semantic labels:

error — red bold error:
warning — yellow bold warning:
info — blue bold info:
progress — cyan bold, carriage-return overwrite for percentages
success — green framed block with Markdown rendering and syntax highlighting

Template placeholders support inline styling: {key|color|style} — e.g. {tag|bright_green|bold}.

Success blocks render Markdown via termimad and highlight code via syntect (base16-eighties dark theme). Language aliases are resolved automatically (arkts→typescript, csharp→cs, batch→bat, etc.).

`plain` — unformatted

No ANSI codes, no framing, no Markdown rendering. Errors and warnings go to stderr; everything else to stdout. Use in CI pipelines or when piping output to other tools.

`json` — structured

Each message is a JSON object on stdout:

{
  "level": "success",
  "value": {
    "message": "result text"
  }
}

Fields are the key-value pairs from the template. Outer Markdown code fences are stripped from string values.

Clipboard write operators (clipboard_text, clipboard_image) are no-ops in JSON mode — the plugin owns the buffer. Use api.output: clipboard in the YAML manifest to have the plugin copy the result — see IDE Plugin.

Messages are tagged with an export context for plugin routing:

Context	Purpose
`actions`	Action list / status
`status`	System status response
`success`	Final action result
`confirm`	User confirmation prompt

`tracing` — structured logs

Delegates to the tracing crate. Set VIBE_TRACE_LEVEL to control verbosity (only effective when VIBE_LOG_TYPE=tracing):

Level	Shows
`error`	Errors only
`warn`	Warnings + errors
`info`	Flow progress + results
`debug`	Engine internals
`trace`	Maximum verbosity

`test` — minimal

Only error and success pass through; all other kinds are no-ops. Activated automatically when VIBE_TEST=1. Used for integration test assertions.

Message model

Every message is an OutputMsg with:

kind — semantic level (plain, info, success, warning, error, debug, trace, progress)
template — layout string with {key} placeholders
fields — key-value map (JSON values)

The formatter resolves placeholders per mode: CLI applies {key|color|style} styling; plain/json substitute values without styling.

Keyboard shortcuts

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