# Command Line Observability with Semantic Exit Codes

DevFeed: [Command Line Observability with Semantic Exit Codes](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/command-line-observability-with-semantic-exit-codes-15583.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://developer.squareup.com/blog/command-line-observability-with-semantic-exit-codes>)

Author: Bob Lail

Published: 2023-01-03T05:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Square Corner Blog RSS Feed](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/square-corner-blog-rss-feed.md>)

Topics: [Command-line interface](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cli.md>), [observability](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/observability.md>), [Tooling](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/tooling.md>), [HTTP](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/http.md>)

Tags: [cli](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cli.md>), [command-line](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/command-line.md>), [developer-tools](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer-tools.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [http](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/http.md>), [observability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/observability.md>)

## AI overview

Square's Developer Tools team describes using exit codes to measure command-line tool usage and observability. The article explains why binary success-or-failure reporting is insufficient and motivates semantic exit codes that distinguish user errors from software failures for more useful reliability objectives.

## Source excerpt

Drawing inspiration from HTTP Status Codes to improve our Command Line tools