Make status output compact for agent callers (#518)

Default status output previously expanded the full command catalog whenever stdout was non-TTY, which is exactly how agent tool captures run. Keep the health signal and next action, but reserve the full services list and help tree for --verbose.

Constraint: Agent shells capture non-TTY output and pay token cost for every status call

Rejected: Hide health details entirely | agents still need service counts and next-step hints

Confidence: high

Scope-risk: narrow

Directive: Keep --verbose as the escape hatch for full service and help details

Tested: node --test test/status.test.js test/output.test.js

Tested: node -c src/cli/main.js src/output/index.js test/status.test.js

Not-tested: full npm test remains blocked by unrelated agents/cockpit harness failures with empty stdout

Co-authored-by: NagyVikt <nagy.viktordp@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: OmX <omx@oh-my-codex.dev>

Author: 3 people

src/cli/main.js

@@ -2026,9 +2026,7 @@ function status(rawArgs) {
     target: process.cwd(),
     json: false,
   });
-  const forceCompact = envFlagIsTruthy(process.env.GUARDEX_COMPACT_STATUS);
   const forceExpand = envFlagIsTruthy(process.env.GUARDEX_VERBOSE_STATUS) || verboseFlag;
-  const interactive = Boolean(process.stdout.isTTY);
   const invokedBasename = getInvokedCliName();
 
   let snapshot = collectServicesSnapshot();
@@ -2081,17 +2079,21 @@ function status(rawArgs) {
     return payload;
   }
 
-  const allServicesActive = toolchain.ok && services.every((service) => service.status === 'active');
-  const compact = !forceExpand && (forceCompact || (interactive && allServicesActive));
+  const compact = !forceExpand;
+  const activeServiceCount = services.filter((service) => service.status === 'active').length;
+  const inactiveServiceCount = services.length - activeServiceCount;
 
   console.log(`[${TOOL_NAME}] CLI: ${payload.cli.runtime}`);
   if (!toolchain.ok) {
     console.log(`[${TOOL_NAME}] ⚠️ Could not detect global services: ${toolchain.error}`);
   }
 
   if (compact) {
+    const serviceSummary = inactiveServiceCount === 0
+      ? `${activeServiceCount}/${services.length} ${statusDot('active')} active`
+      : `${activeServiceCount}/${services.length} ${statusDot('degraded')} active (${inactiveServiceCount} inactive)`;
     console.log(
-      `[${TOOL_NAME}] Global services: ${services.length}/${services.length} ${statusDot('active')} active`,
+      `[${TOOL_NAME}] Global services: ${serviceSummary}`,
     );
   } else {
     console.log(`[${TOOL_NAME}] Global services:`);

src/output/index.js

@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ REPO TOGGLE
 ${repoToggleLines().join('\n')}
 
 NOTES
-  - No command = ${invoked} status (compact in a TTY; pass --verbose for full services + help tree).
+  - No command = ${invoked} status (compact by default; pass --verbose for full services + help tree).
   - ${invoked} init is an alias of ${invoked} setup.
   - Global installs need Y/N approval; GitHub CLI (gh) is required for PR automation.
   - Target another repo: ${invoked} <cmd> --target <repo-path>.

test/status.test.js

@@ -77,30 +77,12 @@ test('default invocation runs non-mutating status output', () => {
   const serviceIdx = result.stdout.indexOf('[gitguardex] Repo safety service:');
   const repoIdx = result.stdout.indexOf('[gitguardex] Repo:');
   const branchIdx = result.stdout.indexOf('[gitguardex] Branch:');
-  const helpIdx = result.stdout.indexOf('gx help:');
   assert.equal(serviceIdx >= 0, true);
   assert.equal(repoIdx > serviceIdx, true);
   assert.equal(branchIdx > repoIdx, true);
-  assert.equal(
-    helpIdx > branchIdx,
-    true,
-    `Expected 'gx help:' banner to appear after Branch line.\nstdout=\n${result.stdout}`,
-  );
-  assert.match(result.stdout, /gx help:/);
-  assert.match(result.stdout, /USAGE\n\s+\$ gx <command> \[options\]/);
-  assert.match(result.stdout, /COMMANDS\n\s+Setup & health/);
-  assert.match(
-    result.stdout,
-    /status\s+Show GitGuardex CLI \+ service health without modifying files/,
-  );
-  assert.match(
-    result.stdout,
-    /AGENT BOT\n\s+agents\s+Start\/stop review \+ cleanup bots for this repo/,
-  );
-  assert.match(
-    result.stdout,
-    /REPO TOGGLE\n\s+Set repo-root \.env: GUARDEX_ON=0 disables Guardex, GUARDEX_ON=1 enables it again/,
-  );
+  assert.match(result.stdout, /\[gitguardex\] Global services: \d+\/\d+ ● active/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.stdout, /gx help:/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.stdout, /USAGE\n\s+\$ gx <command> \[options\]/);
   assert.match(
     result.stdout,
     /\[gitguardex\] Next:/,
@@ -110,12 +92,10 @@ test('default invocation runs non-mutating status output', () => {
 });
 
 
-test('GUARDEX_COMPACT_STATUS=1 suppresses the full help tree and emits a Next hint', () => {
+test('status suppresses the full help tree by default and emits a Next hint', () => {
   const repoDir = initRepo();
 
-  const result = runNodeWithEnv([], repoDir, {
-    GUARDEX_COMPACT_STATUS: '1',
-  });
+  const result = runNode([], repoDir);
   assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr || result.stdout);
   assert.match(result.stdout, /\[gitguardex\] CLI:/);
   assert.match(
@@ -133,10 +113,8 @@ test('GUARDEX_COMPACT_STATUS=1 suppresses the full help tree and emits a Next hi
 test('--verbose forces the expanded services list even when every service is active', () => {
   const repoDir = initRepo();
 
-  const compactResult = runNodeWithEnv([], repoDir, {
-    GUARDEX_COMPACT_STATUS: '1',
-  });
-  // sanity: compact mode collapses by default when the env flag is set
+  const compactResult = runNode([], repoDir);
+  // sanity: compact mode collapses by default
   assert.match(compactResult.stdout, /Global services: \d+\/\d+ ● active/);
 
   const verbose = runNodeWithEnv(['status', '--verbose'], repoDir, {