Output Formats¶

TerraTidy supports multiple output formats for different use cases.

Available Formats¶

Format	Flag	Description	Use Case
`text`	`--format text`	Human-readable output	Terminal use (default)
`table`	`--format table`	Colored table with columns	Terminal, quick review
`json`	`--format json`	Structured JSON	CI/CD, scripts
`json-compact`	`--format json-compact`	Single-line JSON	Logging, streaming
`sarif`	`--format sarif`	SARIF 2.1.0 format	GitHub Code Scanning
`html`	`--format html`	Visual HTML report	Reports, sharing
`github`	`--format github`	GitHub Actions workflow cmds	GitHub Actions inline
`junit`	`--format junit`	JUnit XML format	CI/CD (Jenkins, GitLab)
`markdown`	`--format markdown`	Markdown summary	PR comments, summaries

Usage¶

# Default text output
terratidy check

# Table format with colors
terratidy check --format table

# Disable colors (useful for CI or piping)
terratidy check --format table --color=false

# JSON output
terratidy check --format json

# SARIF for GitHub Code Scanning
terratidy check --format sarif > results.sarif

# GitHub Actions annotations (inline in PR)
terratidy check --format github

# HTML report (redirect to file)
terratidy check --format html > report.html

Text Format¶

The default format for terminal output:

main.tf:15:3: error [style.block-label-case] Resource name should use snake_case
main.tf:23:1: warning [style.tags-at-end] Place tags attribute at end of resource
variables.tf:8:1: info [lint.terraform-documented-variables] Variable should have a description

Found 3 issues (1 error, 1 warning, 1 info)

Table Format¶

Columnar format with color-coded severity for quick visual scanning:

terratidy check --format table

Output:

SEVERITY   LOCATION                                           MESSAGE
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ERROR      main.tf:15:3                                       Resource name should use snake_case
WARNING    main.tf:23:1                                       Place tags attribute at end of resource
INFO       variables.tf:8:1                                   Variable should have a description

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Summary: 1 error(s) 1 warning(s) 1 info

Colors:

Red: Errors
Yellow: Warnings
Cyan: Info

Use --color=false to disable colors:

terratidy check --format table --color=false

JSON Format¶

Machine-readable format for automation:

{
  "version": "0.2.0-alpha.4",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "summary": {
    "total": 3,
    "errors": 1,
    "warnings": 1,
    "info": 1
  },
  "findings": [
    {
      "rule": "style.block-label-case",
      "message": "Resource name should use snake_case",
      "file": "main.tf",
      "line": 15,
      "column": 3,
      "severity": "error",
      "fixable": true
    }
  ]
}

JSON Compact Format¶

Single-line JSON for log aggregation:

terratidy check --format json-compact

SARIF Format¶

Static Analysis Results Interchange Format for GitHub integration:

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oasis-tcs/sarif-spec/master/Schemata/sarif-schema-2.1.0.json",
  "version": "2.1.0",
  "runs": [
    {
      "tool": {
        "driver": {
          "name": "TerraTidy",
          "version": "0.2.0-alpha.4",
          "rules": [...]
        }
      },
      "results": [...]
    }
  ]
}

GitHub Code Scanning¶

Upload SARIF results to GitHub:

- name: Run TerraTidy
  run: terratidy check --format sarif > results.sarif

- name: Upload SARIF
  uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v4
  with:
    sarif_file: results.sarif

GitHub Actions Format¶

Output GitHub workflow commands for inline PR annotations:

terratidy check --format github

Output:

::error file=main.tf,line=15,col=3,title=style.block-label-case::Resource name should use snake_case
::warning file=main.tf,line=23,col=1,title=style.tags-at-end::Place tags attribute at end of resource

These annotations appear directly in the GitHub PR "Files changed" view.

JUnit XML Format¶

Standard test result format for CI/CD integration:

terratidy check --format junit > results.xml

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<testsuites name="TerraTidy" tests="3" failures="2" errors="0" time="0.5">
  <testsuite name="style" tests="2" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.3">
    <testcase name="style.block-label-case" classname="main.tf" time="0.1">
      <failure message="Resource name should use snake_case" type="error">
        File: main.tf
        Line: 15
        Column: 3
      </failure>
    </testcase>
    <testcase name="style.variable-naming" classname="variables.tf" time="0.1"/>
  </testsuite>
  <testsuite name="lint" tests="1" failures="1" errors="0" time="0.2">
    <testcase name="lint.terraform-documented-variables" classname="variables.tf" time="0.1">
      <failure message="Variable should have a description" type="warning">
        File: variables.tf
        Line: 8
        Column: 1
      </failure>
    </testcase>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>

Jenkins Integration¶

pipeline {
    stages {
        stage('TerraTidy') {
            steps {
                sh 'terratidy check --format junit > terratidy-results.xml'
            }
            post {
                always {
                    junit 'terratidy-results.xml'
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

GitLab CI Integration¶

terratidy:
  script:
    - terratidy check --format junit > terratidy-results.xml
  artifacts:
    reports:
      junit: terratidy-results.xml

Markdown Format¶

Human-readable markdown summary, ideal for PR comments:

terratidy check --format markdown > summary.md

Output:

# TerraTidy Report

**Summary:** 3 issues found (1 error, 1 warning, 1 info)

## Errors (1)

| File | Line | Rule | Message |
|------|------|------|---------|
| main.tf | 15 | style.block-label-case | Resource name should use snake_case |

## Warnings (1)

| File | Line | Rule | Message |
|------|------|------|---------|
| main.tf | 23 | style.tags-at-end | Place tags attribute at end of resource |

## Info (1)

| File | Line | Rule | Message |
|------|------|------|---------|
| variables.tf | 8 | lint.terraform-documented-variables | Variable should have a description |

GitHub Actions Summary¶

- name: Run TerraTidy
  run: |
    terratidy check --format markdown > $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY

PR Comment with GitHub CLI¶

- name: Run TerraTidy
  run: |
    terratidy check --format markdown > terratidy-report.md
    gh pr comment ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --body-file terratidy-report.md

HTML Format¶

Self-contained HTML report with embedded CSS, no external dependencies:

Summary cards: total issues, errors (red), warnings (yellow), info (cyan)
Findings grouped by file with severity icons
Fixable badge on auto-fixable findings
Responsive layout for sharing

terratidy check --format html > report.html
open report.html  # View in browser

Useful for:

Sharing results with non-CLI users
Archiving quality reports
Email attachments

Output to File¶

Redirect output to a file:

# Write JSON to file
terratidy check --format json > results.json

# Write HTML report
terratidy check --format html > report.html

# Write SARIF
terratidy check --format sarif > results.sarif

Combining with Other Tools¶

jq for JSON Processing¶

# Get only errors
terratidy check --format json | jq '.findings | map(select(.severity == "error"))'

# Count by rule
terratidy check --format json | jq '.findings | group_by(.rule) | map({rule: .[0].rule, count: length})'

Filtering by Severity¶

# Show only errors and above
terratidy check --severity-threshold error

Skip Specific Engines¶

# Skip policy checks
terratidy check --skip-policy

# Run only fmt and style
terratidy check --skip-lint --skip-policy