"sf data" ignores CI env vars--no way to suppress progress output

[tggagne]

Summary

"sf data" commands always output progress information regardless the environment variables or if running without a terminal

Steps To Reproduce

set all the environment variables that /should/ limit sf cli command output

export SF_USE_PROGRESS_BAR=false
export SF_CI_HEARTBEAT_FREQUENCY_MS=600000
export SF_CI_UPDATE_FREQUENCY_MS=600000
export SF_CONTAINER_MODE=true

(i do that inside a script)

run the command
sf data export bulk --wait 30 -q "select id from apexlog where starttime < today" --output-file=truncate.97766 -o goat

Expected result

the command shouldn't output a bunch of noise to stdout

Actual result

The output below is repeated over and over and over... (trying to email result from crontab)

  Exporting data

  creating query job
  processing the job
  exporting records

 Status:
 Job Id:
 Elapsed Time: 0ms

�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[G
  Exporting data

  creating query job 0ms
  processing the job
  exporting records

 Status:
 Job Id:
 Elapsed Time: 104ms

�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[1A�[2K�[G

System Information

shell - zsh on man, bash on ubuntu, and bash in sf-supplied docker

root@d5d7234b113c:~/git/hwk-linux-build# sf version --verbose --json

{
  "architecture": "linux-x64",
  "cliVersion": "@salesforce/cli/2.84.6",
  "nodeVersion": "node-v22.14.0",
  "osVersion": "Linux 6.10.14-linuxkit",
  "rootPath": "/usr/local/lib/nodejs/lib/node_modules/@salesforce/cli",
  "shell": "bash",
  "pluginVersions": [
    "@oclif/plugin-autocomplete 3.2.27 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-commands 4.1.22 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-help 6.2.27 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-not-found 3.2.49 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-plugins 5.4.36 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-search 1.2.23 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-update 4.6.36 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-version 2.2.27 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-warn-if-update-available 3.1.38 (core)",
    "@oclif/plugin-which 3.2.34 (core)",
    "@salesforce/cli 2.84.6 (core)",
    "apex 3.6.12 (core)",
    "api 1.3.3 (core)",
    "auth 3.6.109 (core)",
    "data 4.0.25 (core)",
    "deploy-retrieve 3.21.3 (core)",
    "info 3.4.51 (core)",
    "limits 3.3.51 (core)",
    "marketplace 1.3.8 (core)",
    "org 5.6.0 (core)",
    "packaging 2.12.3 (core)",
    "schema 3.3.58 (core)",
    "settings 2.4.22 (core)",
    "sobject 1.4.53 (core)",
    "telemetry 3.6.38 (core)",
    "templates 56.3.43 (core)",
    "trust 3.7.79 (core)",
    "user 3.6.16 (core)",
    "sfdx-git-delta 6.6.0 (user) published 6 days ago (Sat Apr 12 2025)"
  ]
}

[github-actions]

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[shetzel]

If you don't want terminal output you should use the --json flag with the command. That's a global option on all sf CLI commands.

[tggagne]

That is going to work. Thank you, @shetzel .
the output when nothing deted looks somethng like:

exporting rows to delete
{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "totalSize": 0,
    "filePath": "truncate.2778587"
  },
  "warnings": []
}
1 truncate.2778587

{
  "status": 0,
  "result": {
    "jobInfo": {
      "id": "750O400000H9DsMIAV",
      "operation": "delete",
      "object": "apexlog",
      "createdById": "0053j000008eqlMAAQ",
      "createdDate": "2025-04-18T16:58:40.000+0000",
      "systemModstamp": "2025-04-18T16:59:01.000+0000",
      "state": "JobComplete",
      "concurrencyMode": "Parallel",
      "contentType": "CSV",
      "apiVersion": 63,
      "jobType": "V2Ingest",
      "lineEnding": "LF",
      "columnDelimiter": "COMMA",
      "numberRecordsProcessed": 0,
      "numberRecordsFailed": 0,
      "retries": 0,
      "totalProcessingTime": 0,
      "apiActiveProcessingTime": 0,
      "apexProcessingTime": 0,
      "isPkChunkingSupported": false
    },
    "records": {
      "successfulResults": [],
      "failedResults": [],
      "unprocessedRecords": []
    }
  },
  "warnings": []
}

[shetzel]

I'm going to open this back up since the SF_CI_HEARTBEAT_FREQUENCY_MS and SF_CI_UPDATE_FREQUENCY_MS env vars should be reducing the multi-stage output per those values. If you don't want any stdout then --json is the way to go but if you want reduced stdout in CI then those env vars should be working.

[tggagne]

I'm ok re-opening 'cause the JSON is still more output than I wanted. All I really need is this-many worked, this-many didn't.

Sure, I can redirect it or pipe thru jq.

And, I like the idea of having environment variables that behave consistently across all he SF commands.

[shetzel]

More info:
SF_CI_HEARTBEAT_FREQUENCY_MS and SF_CI_UPDATE_FREQUENCY_MS env vars are applied at the multi-stage output (MSO) component level, which is in oclif, so all instances used in plugins should behave consistently. Those env vars are used when the MSO component detects that it is being run in a CI environment by looking for certain common CI env vars. That detection isn't always accurate. You can force it by explicitly setting CI=true as an environment variable. We will be updating our docs with this information. In your case, --json should work for preventing the MSO component from doing any stdout. Based on this I think we can close this now. Thanks for reporting!