Output formats

Every command supports a consistent set of global output flags. The default is a human-readable table, color-themed for the terminal.

--json

Use for piping to other tools or for stable machine-readable output. The JSON envelope is the same shape returned by the underlying API:

l4 recommendations list --json

{
  "data": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {
      "total_savings": 23545.31,
      "items": [...],
      "pagination": {
        "total_items": 204,
        "total_pages": 41,
        "current_page": 1,
        "page_size": 5,
        "has_next": true,
        "has_previous": false
      }
    },
    "timestamp": "2026-04-27T11:00:00Z"
  }
}

JSON paths are stable across releases — script against them.

--jq

--jq filters the JSON output through an embedded jq expression in a single process — faster than spawning jq separately and works in environments where jq isn't installed:

l4 recommendations list --jq '.data.data.items[] | {id: .recommendation_id, savings: .monthly_savings}'

Equivalent to:

l4 recommendations list --json | jq '.data.data.items[] | {id: .recommendation_id, savings: .monthly_savings}'

For complex multi-step pipelines (slurps, branches, table formatting), prefer the explicit pipe so each stage is debuggable. See Recipes.

--template

Format with a Go text/template for predictable text output:

l4 costs summary --template '{{ range .data.providers }}{{ .provider_name }}: ${{ .monthly_spending }}/mo{{ "\n" }}{{ end }}'

Useful when downstream tools want a plain-text shape that isn't quite CSV.

--csv

Only honored by l4 export * commands; on other commands a warning is printed and the format falls back to the default. Use this for spreadsheet imports:

l4 export costs --period 90d --format csv > costs.csv
l4 export recommendations --format csv > recommendations.csv

--quiet

Suppresses all stdout/stderr; the exit code is the only signal. Useful as a boolean check or as a CI guardrail:

l4 estimate --fail-above 500 -q ./infra/ && echo "Within budget" || echo "Over budget"

--quiet is mutually exclusive with --json, --jq, --template, and --csv — combining them is a usage error.

--web

Skip the terminal output entirely and open the equivalent page in the dashboard:

l4 recommendations view REC-001 --web

The CLI computes the dashboard URL by replacing api. with dashboard. in the active API base.

Disabling color

Two equivalent ways:

l4 costs summary --no-color
NO_COLOR=1 l4 costs summary

The CLI also auto-disables color when stdout is not a TTY (e.g. piped or redirected), so you usually don't need to set this manually.