TIL: you can use `--output json` with `dbt show`

Show and Tell
,
1 

$ dbt show --inline "select 1" --output json --log-format json

Gives you a result like this:

{
    "data": {
        "is_inline": true,
        "node_name": "inline_query",
        "output_format": "json",
        "preview": "[{\"ID\": 1}]",
        "quiet": false,
        "unique_id": "sql_operation.jaffle_shop.inline_query"
    },
    "info": {
        "category": "",
        "code": "Q041",
        "extra": {},
        "invocation_id": "cfafbca5-a6e2-4cd1-a61c-68507e8880c4",
        "level": "info",
        "msg": "{\n  \"show\": [\n    {\n      \"ID\": 1\n    }\n  ]\n}",
        "name": "ShowNode",
        "pid": 82436,
        "thread": "MainThread",
        "ts": "2026-01-13T03:31:55.861546Z"
    }
}

Without the --output json flag, you’ll get a preview which is formatted as an ASCII table, much harder to work with programmatically.

Bonus: if you’re using the dbt Fusion engine, swap to --log-format otel for a better-structured record

{
    "record_type": "LogRecord",
    "trace_id": "019bb5637fc074d08664d779927fe7db",
    "span_id": "a0d9f7aa53c546ad",
    "span_name": "Node evaluated (model.jaffle_shop.inline)",
    "event_id": "019bb563-8958-7231-9db7-726f0bdb5cc1",
    "time_unix_nano": "1768274757976894000",
    "severity_number": 9,
    "severity_text": "INFO",
    "body": "",
    "event_type": "v1.public.events.fusion.log.ShowDataOutput",
    "attributes": {
        "columns": [
            "ID"
        ],
        "content": "[{\"ID\":1}]",
        "dbt_core_event_code": "Q041",
        "is_inline": true,
        "node_name": "inline_query",
        "output_format": "SHOW_DATA_OUTPUT_FORMAT_JSON"
    }
}