feat(cli): add --json output for list, status, and policy-list commands

[ac12644]

Summary

Add a --json flag to three CLI commands for machine-readable output, enabling scripting and CI integration.

Command	Output
nemoclaw list --json	All sandboxes with default flag, model, provider, policies
nemoclaw <name> status --json	Sandbox details with NIM health
nemoclaw <name> policy-list --json	All presets with applied/unapplied status

JSON mode reads directly from the local registry without requiring a live OpenShell gateway, making it safe for offline scripting.

Example

$ nemoclaw list --json
{
  "sandboxes": [
    {
      "name": "my-assistant",
      "default": true,
      "model": "nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b",
      "provider": "nvidia-nim",
      "gpuEnabled": false,
      "policies": ["pypi", "npm"]
    }
  ],
  "defaultSandbox": "my-assistant"
}

$ nemoclaw my-assistant status --json | jq .nim.running
false

Test plan

• 5 new tests in test/json-output.test.js covering all three commands
• Full test suite passes (941 tests, 0 failures)
• Manually verified JSON output with multi-sandbox registry
• Verified piping works for scripting (nemoclaw list --json | jq ...)
• Existing human-readable output unchanged when --json is omitted

Fixes #753

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added --json flag to list, status, and policy-list commands for machine-readable JSON output, enabling integration with scripts and external tools.

• Tests

  • Added comprehensive test coverage validating JSON output formatting and structure across all modified commands.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR adds --json output support to three CLI commands (list, status, policy-list) to enable machine-readable structured output for automation and scripting. The human-readable output remains the default. A comprehensive test suite validates JSON output structure and correctness across all three commands.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
CLI JSON Output Support bin/nemoclaw.js	Added --json flag handling to listSandboxes, sandboxStatus, and sandboxPolicyList. Each command now checks for the flag and outputs structured JSON (with fields like sandboxes, defaultSandbox, nim, presets, etc.) instead of human-readable text. Updated CLI dispatch and help text to pass args to these functions and document the new flag.
JSON Output Validation Tests test/json-output.test.js	New test suite validating --json output for list, status, and policy-list commands. Tests verify JSON structure, field presence (e.g., sandboxes array, nim.running boolean, presets array), and that help output documents the flag. Uses isolated temporary directories to avoid filesystem state pollution.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Poem

🐰 Flags fly with --json so merry and bright,
Machines now can parse what once was just sight,
Structured and stable, a feast for the bots,
One rabbit applauds all these logical thoughts! ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 37.50% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'feat(cli): add --json output for list, status, and policy-list commands' directly and clearly describes the main change: adding JSON output format support to three CLI commands.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR fully implements all coding requirements from issue #753: adds --json support to nemoclaw list, nemoclaw status, nemoclaw status, and nemoclaw policy-list; includes comprehensive tests validating JSON structure and exit behavior.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes in bin/nemoclaw.js and test/json-output.test.js are directly scoped to implementing the --json flag feature. No unrelated modifications or scope creep detected in the changeset.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

---

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands and usage tips.}

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Some comments are outside the diff and can’t be posted inline due to platform limitations.

⚠️ Outside diff range comments (1)

bin/nemoclaw.js (1)

1486-1517: ⚠️ Potential issue | 🟠 Major

Add missing nemoclaw status --json support to match the stated acceptance scope.

The global status command path still ignores flags (showStatus() is called without args), so nemoclaw status --json is not implemented even though it is in the linked objective scope.

Suggested patch

-function showStatus() {
+function showStatus(args = []) {
+  const jsonMode = args.includes("--json");
+
   // Show sandbox registry
   const { sandboxes, defaultSandbox } = registry.listSandboxes();
+  if (jsonMode) {
+    // Keep this schema stable for automation.
+    console.log(
+      JSON.stringify(
+        {
+          sandboxes: sandboxes.map((sb) => ({
+            name: sb.name,
+            default: sb.name === defaultSandbox,
+            model: sb.model || null,
+            provider: sb.provider || null,
+            gpuEnabled: sb.gpuEnabled || false,
+            policies: sb.policies || [],
+            createdAt: sb.createdAt || null,
+          })),
+          defaultSandbox,
+        },
+        null,
+        2,
+      ),
+    );
+    return;
+  }
+
   if (sandboxes.length > 0) {
     const live = parseGatewayInference(
       captureOpenshell(["inference", "get"], { ignoreError: true }).output,
@@
       case "status":
-        showStatus();
+        showStatus(args);
         break;

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

In `@bin/nemoclaw.js` around lines 1486 - 1517, The global "status" branch ignores
CLI flags because it calls showStatus() with no arguments; update the switch
case to pass the parsed args (call showStatus(args)) and ensure the showStatus
function signature/handler accepts and respects flags like --json so `nemoclaw
status --json` works; locate the GLOBAL_COMMANDS switch, the cmd variable
handling, and the showStatus function to make the change.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Outside diff comments:
In `@bin/nemoclaw.js`:
- Around line 1486-1517: The global "status" branch ignores CLI flags because it
calls showStatus() with no arguments; update the switch case to pass the parsed
args (call showStatus(args)) and ensure the showStatus function
signature/handler accepts and respects flags like --json so `nemoclaw status
--json` works; locate the GLOBAL_COMMANDS switch, the cmd variable handling, and
the showStatus function to make the change.

---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: ac1b1681-baf8-4170-a683-eb8d18c0ae86

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between eaef339 and 7d8f116.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• bin/nemoclaw.js
• test/json-output.test.js