fix(cli): retain nested facts in Markdown tables

docs/cli.md

@@ -796,7 +796,9 @@ operation status.
 
 `--format md` escapes backslashes and pipes in table headers and cells, and
 renders cell line breaks as `<br>`. These are presentation changes; retained
-Evidence and JSON output keep the original values. Table widths are measured
+Evidence and JSON output keep the original values. Nested objects and arrays
+use JSON inside their owning Markdown cells, retaining the field names and
+values instead of replacing them with an object label. Table widths are measured
 iteratively, so an admitted row page is not limited by the JavaScript function
 argument count.
 

src/cli/cliOutputFormatter.ts

@@ -77,10 +77,18 @@ const renderTable = (
   return lines.join("\n");
 };
 
+/** Keep nested JSON facts inside their owning table cell. */
+const markdownCell = (value: unknown): string =>
+  value !== null && typeof value === "object"
+    ? JSON.stringify(value)
+    : value === undefined
+      ? ""
+      : String(value);
+
 const formatKeyValueTable = (value: Record<string, unknown>): string =>
   renderTable(
     ["Key", "Value"],
-    Object.entries(value).map(([key, child]) => [key, String(child)]),
+    Object.entries(value).map(([key, child]) => [key, markdownCell(child)]),
   );
 
 const formatObjectTable = (
@@ -96,7 +104,7 @@ const formatObjectTable = (
       }
   return renderTable(
     headers,
-    items.map((item) => headers.map((key) => String(item[key] ?? ""))),
+    items.map((item) => headers.map((key) => markdownCell(item[key]))),
   );
 };
 
@@ -114,7 +122,7 @@ const formatMarkdown = (
       const table = formatObjectTable(value);
       return path.length === 0 ? table : `## ${path.join(".")}\n\n${table}`;
     }
-    return formatMarkdown(String(value), path);
+    return formatMarkdown(markdownCell(value), path);
   }
 
   const object = value as Record<string, unknown>;
@@ -144,7 +152,7 @@ const formatMarkdown = (
           ? `${heading}${formatKeyValueTable(nested)}`
           : formatMarkdown(nested, childPath);
       }
-      return `${heading}${String(child)}`;
+      return `${heading}${markdownCell(child)}`;
     })
     .join("\n\n");
 };

tests/boundary/cli/markdownNestedFacts.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { renderCliDocument } from "../../../src/cliOutput.js";
+import { writeOrderedZip } from "../../fixtures/artifactEntryOrder.js";
+import { createTestTempDirectory } from "../../fixtures/temporaryDirectory.js";
+import { workspaceCliTest } from "../../support/cli/workspaceCliFixture.js";
+
+it("retains nested facts in standalone Markdown table cells and mixed arrays", () => {
+  const value = [
+    {
+      details: { path: "alpha.txt" },
+      entries: [{ path: "sub/beta.txt" }],
+      mixed: ["selected", { nested: "caller|value" }],
+    },
+  ];
+  const markdown = renderCliDocument(value, "md", false);
+  expect(markdown).toContain('{"path":"alpha.txt"}');
+  expect(markdown).toContain('[{"path":"sub/beta.txt"}]');
+  expect(markdown).toContain("caller\\|value");
+  expect(markdown).not.toContain("[object Object]");
+  expect(
+    renderCliDocument({ mixed: [1, { path: "retained" }] }, "md", false),
+  ).toContain('{"path":"retained"}');
+  expect(JSON.parse(renderCliDocument(value, "json", false))).toEqual(value);
+});
+
+workspaceCliTest(
+  "preserves archive inventory facts through public Markdown and JSON output",
+  async ({ cli }) => {
+    const root = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-markdown-archive-facts-");
+    const archive = join(root, "fixture.zip");
+    await writeOrderedZip(archive, ["alpha.txt", "sub/beta.txt"]);
+    const markdown = await cli.run({
+      arguments: ["inspect-artifact", archive, "--format", "md"],
+    });
+    const json = await cli.run({
+      arguments: ["inspect-artifact", archive, "--json"],
+    });
+    expect(markdown.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(json.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    for (const entry of ["alpha.txt", "sub/beta.txt"]) {
+      expect(markdown.stdout).toContain(entry);
+      expect(json.stdout).toContain(entry);
+    }
+    expect(markdown.stdout).not.toContain("[object Object]");
+  },
+);