Agent Mode outputs structured NDJSON instead of the interactive terminal UI. It’s how AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI) consume Kane CLI results: parse events programmatically, extract the final result, and present it to the user.
Enable Agent Mode
Add --agent to any run command:
kane-cli run "Verify the checkout flow completes successfully" \
--url https://myapp.com \
--agent \
--headless
--agent is active:
- The interactive TUI is fully suppressed (no boot screen, no menus)
- Stdin is not used (no interactive prompts)
Always combine --agent with --headless in non-interactive environments (CI/CD, agent contexts) to avoid display server errors.
Kane CLI outputs one JSON object per line (NDJSON) to stdout:
{"type":"run_start","objective":"Verify checkout","timestamp":"2026-04-14T10:30:45Z"}
{"type":"step_start","index":0,"objective":"Navigate to cart page"}
{"type":"step_event","index":0,"event":"action","detail":"Navigated to /cart","success":true}
{"type":"step_event","index":0,"event":"screenshot","detail":"Screenshot captured"}
{"type":"step_end","index":0,"status":"passed","duration":2.3,"summary":"Navigated to cart"}
{"type":"step_start","index":1,"objective":"Click checkout button"}
...
{"type":"run_end","status":"passed","summary":"...","duration":45.2,...}
Event Schema
Step Events
| Type | Key Fields | Description |
|---|
step_start | index, objective, child_id* | Step began |
step_event | index, event**, detail, success* | Activity within a step |
step_end | index, status (passed|failed), duration, summary | Step completed |
**event values: screenshot, reasoning, action, vision, assertion, evaluation
Flow Events
| Type | Key Fields | Description |
|---|
run_start | objective, timestamp | Run started |
bifurcation | flows[], count | Agent branched into sub-flows |
child_agent_start | child_id, objective, parent_step | Child agent spawned |
child_agent_end | child_id, success, steps_taken, summary | Child agent finished |
ask_user | question, step_index, options* | Agent needs input (auto-disabled when stdin is not TTY) |
error | message | Error occurred |
run_end | (see below) | Terminal event: always the last line |
The run_end Event
run_end is always the last line. It contains the complete test result:
{
"type": "run_end",
"status": "passed",
"summary": "Searched for laptop and added first result to cart",
"one_liner": "Searched for laptop on Amazon and added to cart",
"reason": "Objective completed",
"duration": 45.2,
"final_state": {
"price": "$29.99",
"product_name": "Wireless Headphones"
},
"context": {
"memory": {},
"variables": {},
"pointer": "(passed) Searched for laptop on Amazon"
},
"token_usage": {
"reasoning_input": 12000,
"reasoning_output": 800,
"vision_input": 5000,
"vision_output": 200
},
"session_dir": "~/.testmuai/kaneai/sessions/2026-04-14_10-30-45_a1b2c3",
"run_dir": "~/.testmuai/kaneai/sessions/2026-04-14_10-30-45_a1b2c3/runs/0",
"test_url": "https://test-manager.lambdatest.com/projects/123/test-cases/456"
}
Key Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|
status | "passed" or "failed" |
summary | Full description of what the agent did |
one_liner | Short single-sentence summary |
reason | Why the run stopped (present on failure) |
final_state | Values extracted via “store as” objectives |
test_url | Link to the dashboard for this run |
session_dir | Path to session-level logs |
run_dir | Path to run-level logs, step JSON, screenshots |
token_usage | Token consumption breakdown |
Parsing Output
Get the run_end event:
# Get just the final result
kane-cli run "..." --agent 2>/dev/null | tail -1 | jq .
# Extract status
kane-cli run "..." --agent 2>/dev/null | tail -1 | jq -r '.status'
# Extract a stored value
kane-cli run "go to example.com, store the price as 'price'" --agent 2>/dev/null \
| tail -1 | jq -r '.final_state.price'
Handling ask_user Events
If an objective requires user input mid-run, Kane CLI fires ask_user:
{"type": "ask_user", "question": "Which item should I select?", "options": ["Small", "Medium", "Large"]}
ask_user is auto-disabled when stdin is not a TTY. In CI/CD and AI agent contexts, stdin is never a TTY, so ask_user never fires. Write objectives that don’t require interactive prompts.
{"type": "user_response", "answer": "Medium"}
Agent Mode vs Interactive Mode
| Agent Mode (--agent) | Interactive Mode |
|---|
| TUI | Suppressed | Full terminal UI |
| Output | NDJSON to stdout | Formatted text |
| Stderr | Logs only | Logs + progress UI |
| Use case | AI agents, programmatic tools | Human development |
Next Steps
- Error Codes: Complete reference of
result_code values and recommended actions
- Parallel Execution: Run multiple tests concurrently
- Skills: Install the Kane CLI skill for Claude, Codex, or Gemini
- CLI Reference: Full flag and command reference
