Agent mode

Agent mode makes the calibrate CLI friendlier for automation and AI coding agents: it returns structured errors and defaults output to TOON — a compact, token-efficient format — instead of the human pretty view.

Agent mode turns on automatically when a known agent environment is detected (CLAUDE_CODE, CURSOR_AGENT, and similar), so you rarely set it by hand.

When to use it

Use ordinary mode when	Use agent mode when
A human is exploring at a terminal	A script or CI job runs the command
You want spinners, prompts, and color	You want stable, parseable output
You want a pager or table view	An AI agent consumes the result

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Agent mode is the global --agent-mode flag, on by default inside agent environments:

# Force it on
calibrate agents list --agent-mode

# Force it off — get the human "pretty" output
calibrate agents list --agent-mode=false

What changes

Structured errors — failures come back as a machine-parseable object instead of loose prose, so an agent can branch on them.
TOON output by default — --output-format defaults to toon (Token- Oriented Object Notation, a compact JSON-like format that uses fewer tokens). Override per command with --output-format json (or yaml, table, pretty).
Non-interactive by default — pair with --no-interactive to disable auto-prompting, the explorer auto-launch, and TUI forms in unattended runs.

See the global flags for the full set of output and automation options.

Getting started

Guides

When to use it

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What changes

​When to use it

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​What changes

When to use it

Toggle it

What changes