Output formats

Every command that emits records renders through the same formatter. Pick a format with --format (or -f), or let goodread choose: a table when writing to a terminal, JSONL when piped.

Formats

goodread search dune -f table   # aligned columns for reading
goodread search dune -f jsonl   # one JSON object per line, for piping
goodread search dune -f json    # a single JSON array
goodread search dune -f csv     # spreadsheet friendly
goodread search dune -f tsv     # tab-separated
goodread search dune -f url     # just the Goodreads URL of each row
goodread search dune -f raw     # the underlying bytes, unformatted

Format	Best for
table	Reading on a terminal
jsonl	Piping into another tool, one object at a time
json	Loading a whole result as an array
csv / tsv	Spreadsheets and quick column math
url	Feeding URLs into other commands
raw	The unformatted bytes

Narrowing fields

Keep only the fields you want:

goodread book 2767052 --fields title,avg_rating,ratings_count

--no-header drops the header row in table and csv output, which is handy when a downstream tool expects bare rows.

Templating records

For full control over each line, apply a Go text/template. The fields are the record's keys:

goodread book 2767052 --template '{{.title}} by {{.author_name}}'
goodread shelf 1 --shelf read --template '{{.title}}	{{.rating}}'

Why auto-detection helps

Because the default adapts to the destination, the same command reads well by hand and parses cleanly in a pipe:

goodread shelf 1 --shelf read                  # a table, because this is a terminal
goodread shelf 1 --shelf read | jq -r .title   # JSONL, because this is a pipe

You only reach for --format when you want something other than that default.

Color

--color is auto by default: goodread colors table output on a terminal and drops color when piped. Force it with --color always or turn it off with --color never.