I now have a complete picture. Here's the implementation plan:

1. Missing JSON object handler (95% confidence) — Case 2 only checks first_char == "[" (array). When Claude outputs {"type":"result",...} (object), the condition is false, so jq is never tried. Control falls through to Case 3, which misleadingly blames jq availability.

2. Incorrect condition ordering — Case 3's guard first_char == "[" || first_char == "{" catches objects that Case 2 should have already handled.

3. (Not applicable) — jq is actually missing. Ruled out: the command -v jq check in Case 2 is never reached for objects, so jq availability is irrelevant.

• File: scripts/sw-loop.sh:561-608 — _extract_text_from_json() function
• Line 579: if [[ "$first_char" == "[" ]] && command -v jq — only handles arrays
• Line 599-600: Falls through for { objects, prints misleading "jq not available"
• Existing tests: Tests 17-19 and 21 in sw-loop-test.sh cover empty files, valid JSON arrays, plain text, nested arrays, and binary — but no test for JSON object input

In scripts/sw-loop.sh lines 578-603, restructure the JSON parsing to:

1. Check if first_char is [ or { AND jq is available (single combined guard)
2. Inside the block, branch on array vs object for the jq expression:
   • Array: jq -r '.[-1].result // empty' (existing)
   • Object: jq -r '.result // empty' (new)
3. Share the rest of the extraction logic (.content fallback, placeholder)

# Case 2: Valid JSON (array or object) — extract 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
 warn "JSON output has no .result field — check $json_file"
 echo "(no text result in JSON output)" > "$log_file"
 return 0
fi

Case 3 now only triggers when jq is genuinely unavailable (since Case 2 handles both [ and { when jq exists). The message is now accurate, but add a clarifying distinction:

# 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

This message is now correct because it's only reached when command -v jq actually fails.

Add a new test case after the existing Test 19 (plain text passthrough) block that verifies:

• JSON object {"type":"result","result":"Object extraction works",...} → extracts "Object extraction works"
• No "jq not available" warning is emitted

• Task 1: Modify Case 2 guard in _extract_text_from_json to accept both [ and { first chars
• Task 2: Add object-specific jq expressions (jq -r '.result // empty' and jq -r '.content // empty')
• Task 3: Verify Case 3 warning is now only reachable when jq is genuinely missing (no code change needed — the logic is now correct by construction)
• Task 4: Add test in sw-loop-test.sh for JSON object extraction (.result field)
• Task 5: Add test for JSON object with .content field (fallback path)
• Task 6: Add test verifying no false "jq not available" warning for JSON objects
• Task 7: Run sw-loop-test.sh to verify all existing + new tests pass

1. Unit test (JSON object with .result): Feed {"type":"result","result":"Hello from object","subtype":"success"} → verify output contains "Hello from object"
2. Unit test (JSON object with .content): Feed {"content":"Fallback content"} → verify output contains "Fallback content"
3. Warning suppression test: Run extraction on a JSON object and capture stderr → verify "jq not available" does NOT appear
4. Regression: Run existing tests 15-21 unchanged → all pass
5. Run full test suite: ./scripts/sw-loop-test.sh

• _extract_text_from_json correctly extracts .result from both [...] and {...} JSON
• No misleading "jq not available" warning when jq IS available
• Case 3 warning only fires when jq is genuinely missing
• New tests cover JSON object extraction (.result and .content fallback)
• All existing sw-loop-test.sh tests continue to pass
• No Bash 3.2 compatibility violations in the change

This is Option A from the issue description (extend Case 2), which is the correct approach because:

• It fixes the root cause (jq never tried for objects), not just the symptom (wrong message)
• It makes JSON object output from Claude actually work, extracting clean text instead of passing raw JSON through
• The change is minimal — same jq patterns, just branching on [ vs {