`meshterm contacts --json` is what a person types, and it failed with a
bare usage error: Click binds an option to whatever command declares it,
so a global on the callback is a parse error one word later. For an
output format that is the wrong way round — `-o json` goes after the verb
in every tool that has one, and --json is the first thing anyone reaches
for. The group's own options are now lifted to the front before Click
parses, so both orders mean the same run. `--` stops the lifting and
--help is never lifted, since `contacts --help` must stay the contacts
help rather than quietly becoming the program's.
And a column headed AGE held `2026-09-08T04:18:25-04:00` under
--absolute. Every other time column already names the fact — HEARD,
RECORDED, FINISHED — which stays true whichever form the run asked for;
only chat's named the form. `when()` now says so where the header is
declared.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>