Problem
Default build output is verbose and human-oriented — banners, ANSI colour, per-tool stdout firehose, repeated headers. When an AI agent (Claude Code, Copilot CLI, Cursor, etc.) runs ./build.ps1, most of the output is noise that burns context tokens without adding signal. Humans tolerate it; agents pay for every line.
Proposal
Make the default output mode terser and more structured. Add an explicit mode switch (flag and/or env var) to opt back into the rich rendering for interactive use.
Strawman:
FALLOUT_OUTPUT=human|ai|json env var, plus --output human|ai|json CLI flag.ai (default in non-TTY / CI=true): one line per target with status + duration, suppressed tool stdout, surfaced only on failure. No ANSI. Stable, greppable shape.human (default in interactive TTY): today's rendering — banners, colour, streamed tool output.json (opt-in): line-delimited JSON for tools.
Why now
v12 is already a refactor wave (plugin SDK foundation + extension-point catalogue from RFC #2). The output-sink extension point is one of the listed catalogue items; this issue is the consumer-facing surface of that work.
Open questions
- Default-mode selection rules: TTY vs
CI=true vs explicit flag — which wins?
- Relationship to the existing
--verbosity levels (Quiet/Minimal/Normal/Verbose). Are modes orthogonal to verbosity, or do modes preset verbosity?
- Tool wrappers (
DotNetBuild et al.): capture-and-replay-on-failure for ai mode, or always stream?
- Schema for
json mode: stable? versioned? what's the minimum useful payload for an agent?
- Does this become the canonical first-party
IOutputSink implementation that lands with RFC #2?
Problem
Default build output is verbose and human-oriented — banners, ANSI colour, per-tool stdout firehose, repeated headers. When an AI agent (Claude Code, Copilot CLI, Cursor, etc.) runs
./build.ps1, most of the output is noise that burns context tokens without adding signal. Humans tolerate it; agents pay for every line.Proposal
Make the default output mode terser and more structured. Add an explicit mode switch (flag and/or env var) to opt back into the rich rendering for interactive use.
Strawman:
FALLOUT_OUTPUT=human|ai|jsonenv var, plus--output human|ai|jsonCLI flag.ai(default in non-TTY /CI=true): one line per target with status + duration, suppressed tool stdout, surfaced only on failure. No ANSI. Stable, greppable shape.human(default in interactive TTY): today's rendering — banners, colour, streamed tool output.json(opt-in): line-delimited JSON for tools.Why now
v12 is already a refactor wave (plugin SDK foundation + extension-point catalogue from RFC #2). The output-sink extension point is one of the listed catalogue items; this issue is the consumer-facing surface of that work.
Open questions
CI=truevs explicit flag — which wins?--verbositylevels (Quiet/Minimal/Normal/Verbose). Are modes orthogonal to verbosity, or do modes preset verbosity?DotNetBuildet al.): capture-and-replay-on-failure foraimode, or always stream?jsonmode: stable? versioned? what's the minimum useful payload for an agent?IOutputSinkimplementation that lands with RFC #2?