diff --git a/src/cli/cliResultOutput.ts b/src/cli/cliResultOutput.ts
index a86ce47afd..0f91fe29c8 100644
--- a/src/cli/cliResultOutput.ts
+++ b/src/cli/cliResultOutput.ts
@@ -116,11 +116,7 @@ export const createCliResultOutput = (
   destination: Writable,
 ): CliResultOutput | undefined => {
   let options = initialOptions;
-  if (
-    (options.parseError && options.format !== "jsonl") ||
-    !options.validation.ok
-  )
-    return undefined;
+  if (!options.validation.ok) return undefined;
   let format = options.format as "json" | "jsonl" | "yaml" | "toon" | "md";
   let handled = false;
   let failed = false;
diff --git a/tests/boundary/cli/jsonOutput.test.ts b/tests/boundary/cli/jsonOutput.test.ts
index fd9401cd0b..9604a35f3b 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/cli/jsonOutput.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/cli/jsonOutput.test.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ describe("SDK output completion", () => {
         parseCliOutputArguments(["--format", format]),
         destination,
       );
+      if (output === undefined)
+        throw new Error("Expected valid output controls");
       expect(output.captureSdkOutput(document)).toBe(false);
       destination.write(document);
       expect(complete).toBe(false);