From c22d00829b1e8a0f8a63febe0d48cda084276c2f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dan mackinlay <danmackinlay@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2026 10:08:57 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Add line to JSON search output

---
 CHANGELOG.md           |  2 ++
 src/cli/formatter.ts   |  6 +++++-
 test/formatter.test.ts | 14 ++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3e56c27..e534bfc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 - Sync stale `bun.lock` (`better-sqlite3` 11.x → 12.x). CI and release
   script now use `--frozen-lockfile` to prevent recurrence. #386
   (thanks @Mic92)
+- Include `line` in `--json` search output so editor integrations can jump
+  directly to `file:line`. Closes #505 (thanks @danmackinlay)
 
 ## [2.0.1] - 2026-03-10
 
diff --git a/src/cli/formatter.ts b/src/cli/formatter.ts
index 14586a8..81d69bb 100644
--- a/src/cli/formatter.ts
+++ b/src/cli/formatter.ts
@@ -101,8 +101,11 @@ export function searchResultsToJson(
   const query = opts.query || "";
   const output = results.map(row => {
     const bodyStr = row.body || "";
+    const snippetInfo = bodyStr
+      ? extractSnippet(bodyStr, query, 300, row.chunkPos, undefined, opts.intent)
+      : undefined;
     let body = opts.full ? bodyStr : undefined;
-    let snippet = !opts.full ? extractSnippet(bodyStr, query, 300, row.chunkPos, undefined, opts.intent).snippet : undefined;
+    let snippet = !opts.full ? snippetInfo?.snippet : undefined;
 
     if (opts.lineNumbers) {
       if (body) body = addLineNumbers(body);
@@ -113,6 +116,7 @@ export function searchResultsToJson(
       docid: `#${row.docid}`,
       score: Math.round(row.score * 100) / 100,
       file: row.displayPath,
+      ...(snippetInfo && { line: snippetInfo.line }),
       title: row.title,
       ...(row.context && { context: row.context }),
       ...(body && { body }),
diff --git a/test/formatter.test.ts b/test/formatter.test.ts
index 601682e..eb07dd0 100644
--- a/test/formatter.test.ts
+++ b/test/formatter.test.ts
@@ -95,6 +95,20 @@ describe("search results include context in all formats", () => {
     expect(parsed[0].context).toBe(TEST_CONTEXT);
   });
 
+  test("JSON format includes line", () => {
+    const output = searchResultsToJson(results, { query: "keynote" });
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(output);
+    expect(parsed[0].line).toBeTypeOf("number");
+    expect(parsed[0].line).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
+  test("JSON format includes line with --full", () => {
+    const output = searchResultsToJson(results, { query: "keynote", full: true });
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(output);
+    expect(parsed[0].line).toBeTypeOf("number");
+    expect(parsed[0].line).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
   test("CSV format includes context", () => {
     const output = searchResultsToCsv(results, { query: "keynote" });
     // Header should have context column