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JSON Event Stream Mode

atomic --mode json "Your prompt"
Outputs all session events as JSON lines to stdout. Useful for integrating Atomic into other tools or custom UIs.

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Event Types

Events are defined in AgentSessionEvent: 
type AgentSessionEvent =
  | AgentEvent
  | { type: "queue_update"; steering: readonly string[]; followUp: readonly string[] }
  | { type: "compaction_start"; reason: "manual" | "threshold" | "overflow" }
  | { type: "session_info_changed"; name: string | undefined }
  | { type: "model_changed"; model: Model<Api>; previousModel: Model<Api> | undefined; source: "set" | "cycle" | "restore" }
  | { type: "thinking_level_changed"; level: ThinkingLevel }
  | { type: "compaction_end"; reason: "manual" | "threshold" | "overflow"; result: CompactionResult | undefined; aborted: boolean; willRetry: boolean; errorMessage?: string }
  | { type: "auto_retry_start"; attempt: number; maxAttempts: number; delayMs: number; errorMessage: string }
  | { type: "auto_retry_end"; success: boolean; attempt: number; finalError?: string };
queue_update emits the full pending steering and follow-up queues whenever they change. session_info_changed, model_changed, and thinking_level_changed report interactive session metadata changes. compaction_start and compaction_end cover both manual and automatic compaction. Base events come from AgentEvent in @earendil-works/pi-agent-core (installed as an Atomic dependency): 
type AgentEvent =
  // Agent lifecycle
  | { type: "agent_start" }
  | { type: "agent_end"; messages: AgentMessage[] }
  // Turn lifecycle
  | { type: "turn_start" }
  | { type: "turn_end"; message: AgentMessage; toolResults: ToolResultMessage[] }
  // Message lifecycle
  | { type: "message_start"; message: AgentMessage }
  | { type: "message_update"; message: AgentMessage; assistantMessageEvent: AssistantMessageEvent }
  | { type: "message_end"; message: AgentMessage }
  // Tool execution
  | { type: "tool_execution_start"; toolCallId: string; toolName: string; args: any }
  | { type: "tool_execution_update"; toolCallId: string; toolName: string; args: any; partialResult: any }
  | { type: "tool_execution_end"; toolCallId: string; toolName: string; result: any; isError: boolean };

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Message Types

Base messages come from @earendil-works/pi-ai (installed as an Atomic dependency):
  • UserMessage
  • AssistantMessage
  • ToolResultMessage
Extended messages from packages/coding-agent/src/core/messages.ts:
  • BashExecutionMessage (line 29)
  • CustomMessage (line 46)
  • BranchSummaryMessage (line 55)
  • CompactionSummaryMessage (line 62)

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Output Format

Each line is a JSON object. The first line is the session header: 
{"type":"session","version":3,"id":"uuid","timestamp":"...","cwd":"/path"}
Followed by events as they occur: 
{"type":"agent_start"}
{"type":"turn_start"}
{"type":"message_start","message":{"role":"assistant","content":[],...}}
{"type":"message_update","message":{...},"assistantMessageEvent":{"type":"text_delta","delta":"Hello",...}}
{"type":"message_end","message":{...}}
{"type":"turn_end","message":{...},"toolResults":[]}
{"type":"agent_end","messages":[...]}

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Example

atomic --mode json "List files" 2>/dev/null | jq -c 'select(.type == "message_end")'