Output Modes

Every aict tool supports three output modes.

XML (Default for AI)

XML is the default when AICT_XML=1 is set, or when --xml is passed.

<ls timestamp="1234567890" total_entries="1">
  <file name="main.go" path="main.go" absolute="/project/main.go"
        size_bytes="2048" size_human="2.0 KiB"
        modified="1234567890" modified_ago_s="3600"
        language="go" mime="text/x-go" binary="false"/>
</ls>

Why XML? Attributes carry metadata without nesting. A <file size_bytes="2048" language="go"/> is 40 chars; the JSON equivalent is 60+. AI context windows are token-limited — denser encoding means more results per call.

JSON

Pass --json for JSON output. The schema mirrors the XML structure.

{
  "timestamp": 1234567890,
  "total_entries": 1,
  "files": [
    {
      "name": "main.go",
      "path": "main.go",
      "absolute": "/project/main.go",
      "size_bytes": 2048,
      "size_human": "2.0 KiB",
      "modified": 1234567890,
      "modified_ago_s": 3600,
      "language": "go",
      "mime": "text/x-go",
      "binary": false
    }
  ]
}

Plain Text

Pass --plain for GNU-compatible plain text output. This skips enrichment and outputs text similar to the original Unix tool.

$ aict ls src/ --plain
main.go
utils.go
internal/

Use --plain when:

• You only need content, not metadata
• You want maximum performance (skips language/MIME detection)
• You need compatibility with existing scripts

Error Output

Errors are structured XML in stdout, never stderr:

<ls timestamp="1234567890" total_entries="0">
  <error code="2" msg="no such file or directory" path="/nonexistent"/>
</ls>

Exit code is always 0 for structured errors. Non-zero exit codes indicate fatal failures.