diff --git a/src/winml/modelkit/commands/inspect.py b/src/winml/modelkit/commands/inspect.py
index bbc5fb3c8..d52b9d33c 100644
--- a/src/winml/modelkit/commands/inspect.py
+++ b/src/winml/modelkit/commands/inspect.py
@@ -186,10 +186,13 @@ def inspect(
     # Print a banner BEFORE the heavy import chain / network calls so users
     # see immediate feedback instead of ~14 s of silence and assume the
     # command hung (see #543). Banner + spinner go to stderr so `--format
-    # json` consumers still get clean stdout. Suppressed in --quiet mode.
+    # json` consumers still get clean stdout. Suppressed in --quiet mode
+    # and in JSON mode (Click 8.4 mixes stderr into CliRunner.result.output,
+    # and JSON consumers expect clean stdout regardless).
     quiet = bool(ctx.obj and ctx.obj.get("quiet"))
+    json_mode = output_format.lower() == "json"
     target = model_id or model_type or model_class
-    if not quiet:
+    if not quiet and not json_mode:
         _stderr_console.print(f"[dim]Inspecting [bold]{target}[/bold] …[/dim]")
 
     from ..inspect import InspectError, ModelNotFoundError, NetworkError
@@ -204,7 +207,7 @@ def inspect(
         logging.getLogger("winml.modelkit").setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
     try:
-        if quiet:
+        if quiet or json_mode:
             result = _inspect_model_v2(
                 model_id=model_id,
                 task_override=task,
@@ -479,9 +482,20 @@ def _inspect_model_v2(
         task=task,
     )
 
+    # Use the top-level model_type for the user-facing result.  For multimodal
+    # models (CLIP, etc.) `loader_config.model_type` is the narrowed sub-config
+    # type (e.g. "clip_text_model"), but users expect the top-level type ("clip").
+    #
+    # Precedence:
+    #   1. model_type_override  — user explicitly passed --model-type
+    #   2. parent_hf_config     — pre-narrowing config (only when model_id was
+    #                             provided and AutoConfig succeeded in step 1)
+    #   3. model_type           — narrowed loader_config.model_type (fallback)
+    display_model_type = model_type_override or getattr(parent_hf_config, "model_type", model_type)
+
     return InspectResult(
-        model_id=model_id or model_type or model_class_override or "unknown",
-        model_type=model_type,
+        model_id=model_id or display_model_type or model_class_override or "unknown",
+        model_type=display_model_type,
         architectures=architectures,
         task=task,
         task_source=task_source,