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The App Store Connect CLI supports multiple output formats and automatically adapts to your environment.

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Format Options

All commands that return data support three output formats:
  • json - Machine-parseable JSON (default for non-interactive contexts)
  • table - Human-readable table (default for interactive terminals)
  • markdown - Markdown-formatted tables

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TTY-Aware Defaults

The CLI automatically detects whether it’s running in an interactive terminal: 
# Interactive terminal (TTY detected)
asc apps list
# Output: table format

# Piped or CI environment (no TTY)
asc apps list | jq '.data[0].id'
# Output: json format
This behavior follows the principle: human-friendly in terminals, machine-friendly in pipes and scripts.

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Explicit Format Selection

Override the default with the --output flag: 
# Force JSON in an interactive terminal
asc apps list --output json

# Force table format in a script
asc apps list --output table

# Markdown format (alias: md)
asc apps list --output markdown

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Environment Variable

Set a default format across all commands with ASC_DEFAULT_OUTPUT: 
export ASC_DEFAULT_OUTPUT=json
asc apps list  # Uses JSON even in interactive terminals

# Explicit --output flag always overrides ASC_DEFAULT_OUTPUT
asc apps list --output table
Valid values: json, table, markdown, md
The --output flag always takes precedence over ASC_DEFAULT_OUTPUT and TTY detection.

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Pretty-Printing JSON

For human-readable JSON output, use the --pretty flag: 
asc apps list --output json --pretty
Example output: 
{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "123456789",
      "type": "apps",
      "attributes": {
        "name": "My App",
        "bundleId": "com.example.app"
      }
    }
  ]
}
The --pretty flag only works with --output json. Using --pretty with table or markdown returns an error.

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Format Examples

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Table Format

asc apps list --limit 2 --output table

ID          NAME        BUNDLE ID           SKU
123456789   My App      com.example.app     APP001
987654321   Other App   com.example.other   APP002

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JSON Format

asc apps list --limit 1 --output json

{"data":[{"id":"123456789","type":"apps","attributes":{"name":"My App","bundleId":"com.example.app","sku":"APP001"}}]}

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Markdown Format

asc apps list --limit 2 --output markdown

| ID        | NAME      | BUNDLE ID         | SKU    |
|-----------|-----------|-------------------|--------|
| 123456789 | My App    | com.example.app   | APP001 |
| 987654321 | Other App | com.example.other | APP002 |

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Implementation Details

Output format resolution follows this priority order:
  1. Explicit --output flag (highest priority)
  2. ASC_DEFAULT_OUTPUT environment variable
  3. TTY detection (lowest priority)
    • TTY detected → table
    • No TTY → json
The CLI uses term.IsTerminal() to check stdout’s file descriptor. This works correctly with:
  • Pipes: asc apps list | jq
  • Redirects: asc apps list > output.json
  • CI environments: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins
  • Docker containers (non-interactive)

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Format Registry

The CLI uses a type-safe output registry system (internal/asc/output_registry.go) that maps response types to rendering functions. This ensures:
  • Consistent formatting across all commands
  • Type-safe row extraction
  • Automatic handling of single vs. list responses
Most commands automatically support all three formats without additional code.

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Best Practices

In Scripts

Always use --output json for reliability and parsing.

In CI/CD

The CLI defaults to JSON automatically in non-interactive environments.

For Debugging

Use --output json --pretty to inspect API responses.

For Reports

Use --output markdown to generate documentation snippets.