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Every CostHQ command accepts a --json flag that produces machine-readable output on stdout. Use this flag in agent workflows, CI pipelines, and any automation that needs to parse command results programmatically rather than scrape human-readable text.

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Schema Versioning

Every --json response includes top-level metadata fields regardless of the command: 
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  ...
}
Always check schemaVersion before parsing the rest of the object. If the value is higher than your integration expects, emit a warning and degrade gracefully — never silently break.

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cs start --json

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Fix authentication bug",
  "status": "active",
  "directory": "/home/user/project",
  "gitRoot": "/home/user/project",
  "branch": "main"
}
Capture id immediately — you can pass it to subsequent commands via -s <id> to target this session explicitly when running multiple sessions concurrently.

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cs status --json

Returns the following shape when a session is active: 
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Fix authentication bug",
  "status": "active",
  "gitRoot": "/home/user/project",
  "aiCost": 1.23,
  "aiTokens": 45000,
  "liveDuration": 847,
  "liveDurationFormatted": "14m"
}
When no session is active, cs status --json exits with code 1 and returns: 
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  "error": { "code": "no_active_session", "message": "No active session" }
}

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cs end --json

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Fix authentication bug",
  "status": "completed",
  "duration": 847,
  "durationFormatted": "14m",
  "filesChanged": 8,
  "commits": 2,
  "aiTokens": 31450,
  "aiCost": 1.43
}

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cs show --json

cs show --json returns the full session detail including files, commits, AI usage records, and annotations: 
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  "id": 42,
  "name": "Fix payment processing + retry",
  "status": "completed",
  "startTime": "2026-02-09T14:30:00.000Z",
  "endTime": "2026-02-09T14:42:17.000Z",
  "duration": 737,
  "durationFormatted": "12m",
  "workingDirectory": "/home/user/project",
  "filesChanged": 6,
  "commits": 2,
  "aiTokens": 46000,
  "aiCost": 1.065,
  "notes": "Fixed payment bug, added exponential backoff retry",
  "files": [
    { "id": 1, "sessionId": 42, "filePath": "src/payments.ts", "changeType": "modified", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:32:11.000Z" },
    { "id": 2, "sessionId": 42, "filePath": "src/retry.ts", "changeType": "created", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:35:44.000Z" },
    { "id": 3, "sessionId": 42, "filePath": "tests/payments.test.ts", "changeType": "modified", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:38:20.000Z" }
  ],
  "commits": [
    { "id": 1, "sessionId": 42, "hash": "a1b2c3d", "message": "fix: payment processing null check", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:36:00.000Z" },
    { "id": 2, "sessionId": 42, "hash": "e4f5g6h", "message": "feat: add exponential backoff retry", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:41:00.000Z" }
  ],
  "aiUsage": [
    { "id": 1, "sessionId": 42, "provider": "anthropic", "model": "claude-opus-4-6", "tokens": 12000, "promptTokens": 8000, "completionTokens": 4000, "cost": 0.42, "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:31:05.000Z" },
    { "id": 2, "sessionId": 42, "provider": "anthropic", "model": "claude-opus-4-6", "tokens": 18000, "promptTokens": 12000, "completionTokens": 6000, "cost": 0.63, "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:34:22.000Z" },
    { "id": 3, "sessionId": 42, "provider": "anthropic", "model": "claude-sonnet-4", "tokens": 16000, "promptTokens": 14000, "completionTokens": 2000, "cost": 0.072, "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:39:50.000Z" }
  ],
  "annotations": [
    { "id": 1, "sessionId": 42, "message": "Starting retry logic implementation", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:35:00.000Z" },
    { "id": 2, "sessionId": 42, "message": "Tests passing, cleaning up", "timestamp": "2026-02-09T14:40:30.000Z" }
  ]
}

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cs log-ai --json

In addition to the logged values, the response includes a pricing object so you can verify which pricing source was used: 
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "CostHQVersion": "3.1.1",
  "logged": {
    "provider": "anthropic",
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4",
    "tokens": 10000,
    "cost": 0.054
  },
  "pricing": {
    "source": "built-in",
    "modelKnown": true,
    "inputPer1M": 3.0,
    "outputPer1M": 15.0
  },
  "session": { "id": 42, "aiCost": 0.054, "aiTokens": 10000 }
}
pricing.source is one of "built-in", "custom", or "manual". If pricing.modelKnown is false, the model is not in the built-in pricing table and you should provide an explicit cost via -c.

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cs dashboard --json

Returns the startup metadata for the dashboard process: 
{ "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3737", "port": 3737, "pid": 12345, "host": "127.0.0.1", "apiVersion": 1 }
Use pid if you need to manage the dashboard process lifecycle from a parent script.

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Non-Interactive Guarantees

When you pass --json, CostHQ makes the following guarantees for safe use in automation:
  • All commands are fully non-interactive — no prompts, no TTY input required.
  • cs start --json calls process.exit(0) immediately after printing — safe to call with execSync.
  • Use --close-stale or --resume alongside cs start --json to avoid session_active errors in unattended scripts.
  • On Windows, use where cs instead of which cs for install detection. All commands work identically on Windows, macOS, and Linux.