--json, CLI errors are written to standard error as human-readable text beginning with error:. With --json, errors contain schema_version and an error object with code, message, and exit_code.
| Exit code | Meaning | Recovery |
|---|---|---|
0 | Success | Consume stdout. |
1 | Database or operation failure, or an unhealthy doctor report | Check the reported action or inspect the diagnostic report and confirm app and CLI compatibility. |
2 | Meeting, note, or other requested data not found | List meetings again and use a returned ID. |
3 | Database file not found | Open Anarlog once or provide the correct database path. |
4 | Export output already exists | Choose another path or explicitly pass --force to replace the file. |
invalid_arguments error code with Clap’s nonzero exit code.
MCP reports missing meetings as invalid parameters. Database and serialization failures are internal MCP errors.
Do not recover by creating tables, running migrations, or issuing SQL. The desktop app owns schema initialization and migrations.