1. Case 2 only handles JSON arrays, not objects (99% confidence) — The _extract_text_from_json function at scripts/sw-loop.sh:579 checks first_char == "[" before attempting jq parsing. When Claude outputs a JSON object ({...}), this condition is false, so jq is never tried. Control falls through to Case 3 (line 599), which catches both [ and { and unconditionally prints "jq not available" — even though jq was never attempted for objects.

2. Claude --output-format json changed output format — Claude's JSON output mode may now sometimes emit a single JSON object instead of an array. The original code was written assuming arrays only.

3. Warning message is simply wrong — Even if we don't want to parse objects, the message should distinguish "jq not available" from "unexpected JSON format".

• File:line: scripts/sw-loop.sh:579-603
• Case 2 (line 579): if [[ "$first_char" == "[" ]] && command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 — only enters jq parsing for arrays
• Case 3 (line 599): if [[ "$first_char" == "[" || "$first_char" == "{" ]] — catches objects BUT prints misleading "jq not available" warning
• Impact: Cosmetic only — the raw JSON is copied to the log file and the loop continues correctly
• No previous failed attempt — plan.md was empty, this is the first plan

Option A (recommended): Extend Case 2 to handle both JSON arrays and objects with jq. When first_char is {, extract .result // empty directly (no array indexing). This gives proper text extraction for both formats. Case 3 becomes a true "jq not available" fallback.

This is the minimal, targeted fix that:

• Properly extracts .result from JSON objects (not just arrays)
• Keeps the "jq not available" warning accurate (only shown when jq is genuinely missing)
• Maintains backward compatibility for all existing cases

Modify lines 578-603 to handle both [ and { first characters when jq is available:

# Case 2: Valid JSON (array or object) — extract .result with jq
if [[ "$first_char" == "[" || "$first_char" == "{" ]] && command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
 local extracted
 if [[ "$first_char" == "[" ]]; then
 extracted=$(jq -r '.[-1].result // empty' "$json_file" 2>/dev/null) || true
 else
 extracted=$(jq -r '.result // empty' "$json_file" 2>/dev/null) || true
 fi
 if [[ -n "$extracted" ]]; then
 echo "$extracted" > "$log_file"
 return 0
 fi
 # jq succeeded but result was null/empty — try .content or raw text
 if [[ "$first_char" == "[" ]]; then
 extracted=$(jq -r '.[].content // empty' "$json_file" 2>/dev/null | head -500) || true
 else
 extracted=$(jq -r '.content // empty' "$json_file" 2>/dev/null | head -500) || true
 fi
 if [[ -n "$extracted" ]]; then
 echo "$extracted" > "$log_file"
 return 0
 fi
 # JSON parsed but no text found — write placeholder
 warn "JSON output has no .result field — check $json_file"
 echo "(no text result in JSON output)" > "$log_file"
 return 0
fi
# Case 3: Looks like JSON but no jq — can't parse, use raw
if [[ "$first_char" == "[" || "$first_char" == "{" ]]; then
 warn "JSON output but jq not available — using raw output"
 cp "$json_file" "$log_file"
 return 0
fi

Key changes:

• Case 2 condition: "$first_char" == "[" → "$first_char" == "[" || "$first_char" == "{"
• Inside Case 2: branch on first_char to use .[-1].result for arrays vs .result for objects
• Same branching for the .content fallback
• Case 3 is now only reachable when jq is genuinely not installed

Add two new test cases after the existing Test 21 block (after line 368):

1. JSON object extraction: Verify _extract_text_from_json correctly extracts .result from a JSON object {"type":"result","result":"Object extraction works"}
2. No misleading warning: Verify that when jq IS available and input is a JSON object, the "jq not available" warning is NOT emitted

• Task 1: Modify Case 2 condition in _extract_text_from_json() to accept both [ and {
• Task 2: Add array vs object branching for .result extraction inside Case 2
• Task 3: Add array vs object branching for .content fallback inside Case 2
• Task 4: Add test: JSON object .result extraction works
• Task 5: Add test: no misleading "jq not available" warning for JSON objects when jq is present
• Task 6: Run sw-loop-test.sh to verify all tests pass
• Task 7: Verify existing tests still pass (no regression)

1. Unit test — JSON object extraction: Create a temp file with {"type":"result","result":"Object extraction works"}, run _extract_text_from_json, verify output contains "Object extraction works"
2. Unit test — warning suppression: Run _extract_text_from_json on a JSON object with warn() that captures output, verify "jq not available" is NOT in the output
3. Regression: Run full sw-loop-test.sh — all existing tests (15-21) must still pass
4. Manual verification: If possible, run a real shipwright loop iteration that produces JSON object output and confirm no misleading warning

• _extract_text_from_json() correctly extracts .result from both JSON arrays and JSON objects
• "jq not available" warning only appears when jq is genuinely not installed
• New test cases cover JSON object extraction
• All existing sw-loop-test.sh tests pass (no regression)
• Code follows Bash 3.2 compatibility requirements
• No unnecessary changes outside the bug scope

# Run the loop test suite
./scripts/sw-loop-test.sh
# Verify specific new behavior manually
tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
echo '{"type":"result","result":"Object works"}' > "$tmpdir/obj.json"
# Extract the function and test it
_extract_fn=$(sed -n '/^_extract_text_from_json()/,/^}/p' scripts/sw-loop.sh)
bash -c "
warn() { echo \"WARN: \$*\" >&2; }
$_extract_fn
_extract_text_from_json '$tmpdir/obj.json' '$tmpdir/obj_out.log' ''
" 2>"$tmpdir/warnings.txt"
cat "$tmpdir/obj_out.log" # Should contain "Object works"
cat "$tmpdir/warnings.txt" # Should be empty (no misleading warning)
rm -rf "$tmpdir"