diff --git a/bin/moshcode.mjs b/bin/moshcode.mjs
index 855adea..a130cb2 100755
--- a/bin/moshcode.mjs
+++ b/bin/moshcode.mjs
@@ -283,7 +283,10 @@ async function main() {
     return;
   }
   if (cmd === "agents") {
-    if (!rest.length) { printEngineStatus(); return; }
+    if (!rest.length || (rest.length === 1 && rest[0] === "--json")) {
+      printEngineStatus(rest[0] === "--json");
+      return;
+    }
     const resolved = resolveEngine(rest[0]);
     if (!resolved) {
       console.error(`unknown engine "${rest[0]}". try: ${Object.keys(ENGINES).join(", ")}`);
diff --git a/src/cli-schema.mjs b/src/cli-schema.mjs
index b077447..9dc0eba 100644
--- a/src/cli-schema.mjs
+++ b/src/cli-schema.mjs
@@ -35,10 +35,15 @@ export const CORE_CLI_COMMANDS = [
     description: "list engines or launch one autonomously",
     synopsis: [
       ["moshcode agents", "list engines and their install status"],
+      ["moshcode agents --json", "list engine status as machine-readable JSON"],
       ["moshcode agents <engine> [args…]", "open the engine's agent view, or start it autonomously"],
     ],
+    flags: [
+      ["--json", "print engine status as JSON", ""],
+    ],
     examples: [
       ["moshcode agents", "which engines are here"],
+      ["moshcode agents --json", "pipe engine status into a script"],
       ["moshcode agents claude", "claude's agent list"],
     ],
     seeAlso: ["start", "engines", "install"],
diff --git a/src/completion.mjs b/src/completion.mjs
index a88a919..4e76c48 100644
--- a/src/completion.mjs
+++ b/src/completion.mjs
@@ -164,7 +164,11 @@ Register-ArgumentCompleter -Native -CommandName moshcode -ScriptBlock {
   } else {
     switch ($command) {
       { $_ -in @('agents', 'start') } {
-        if ($argumentIndex -eq 2) { $choices = $script:MoshcodeCompletionEngines }
+        if ($argumentIndex -eq 2) {
+          $choices = if ($command -eq 'agents' -and $wordToComplete.StartsWith('-')) {
+            $script:MoshcodeCompletionJson
+          } else { $script:MoshcodeCompletionEngines }
+        }
       }
       'install' {
         if ($argumentIndex -eq 2) { $choices = $script:MoshcodeCompletionInstall }
@@ -262,7 +266,12 @@ _moshcode_completion() {
     choices="${names(model.top)}"
   else
     case "$subcommand" in
-      agents|start)
+      agents)
+        if (( COMP_CWORD == 2 )); then
+          if [[ "$cur" == -* ]]; then choices="--json"; else choices="${names(model.engines)}"; fi
+        fi
+        ;;
+      start)
         (( COMP_CWORD == 2 )) && choices="${names(model.engines)}"
         ;;
       install)
@@ -365,7 +374,19 @@ _moshcode() {
   fi
 
   case "\${words[2]}" in
-    agents|start)
+    agents)
+      if (( CURRENT == 3 )); then
+        if [[ "$PREFIX" == -* ]]; then
+          _values "agent option" --json
+        else
+          choices=(${zshValues(model.engines)})
+          _describe "engine" choices
+        fi
+      else
+        _files
+      fi
+      ;;
+    start)
       if (( CURRENT == 3 )); then
         choices=(${zshValues(model.engines)})
         _describe "engine" choices
@@ -535,7 +556,7 @@ complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_nested_is mcp list' -l json -d 'print JSON'
 complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_nested_is skill list; or __moshcode_nested_is skills list' -l json -d 'print JSON'
 complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_command_is login' -l browser -s b -d 'use browser authentication'
 complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_command_is login' -l device -s d -d 'use device-code authentication'
-complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_command_is engines tools commands' -l json -d 'print JSON'
+complete -c moshcode -n '${atSecondToken("agents engines tools commands")}' -l json -d 'print JSON'
 complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_command_is run' -l dry-run -d 'show actions without executing'
 complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_command_is run' -l max -s n -r -d 'maximum loop count'
 complete -c moshcode -n '__moshcode_command_is uninstall remove' -l yes -s y -d 'confirm deleting a binary'
diff --git a/src/tui.mjs b/src/tui.mjs
index 5428ecf..6d5efad 100644
--- a/src/tui.mjs
+++ b/src/tui.mjs
@@ -127,7 +127,16 @@ function commandRemainder(line) {
   return firstWord ? String(line).slice(firstWord[0].length).trim() : "";
 }
 
-function printEngines() {
+function printEngines(json = false) {
+  if (json) {
+    console.log(JSON.stringify(engineStatus().map(({ key, desc, bin, installed }) => ({
+      name: key,
+      description: desc,
+      binary: bin,
+      installed,
+    })), null, 2));
+    return;
+  }
   console.log(bone("  engines") + ash("  — autonomous ") + acid("/agents <name>") + ash(" · raw ") + acid("/start <name>"));
   for (const e of engineStatus()) {
     const dot = e.installed ? acid("●") : ash("○");
@@ -582,7 +591,10 @@ export async function tui() {
       continue;
     }
     if (cmd === "agents" || cmd === "agent" || cmd === "engines") {
-      if (!rest[0]) { printEngines(); continue; }
+      if (!rest[0] || (rest.length === 1 && rest[0] === "--json")) {
+        printEngines(rest[0] === "--json");
+        continue;
+      }
       const resolved = resolveEngine(rest[0]);
       if (!resolved) { console.log(err(`unknown engine "${rest[0]}". try: ${Object.keys(ENGINES).join(", ")}`)); continue; }
       const [key, engine] = resolved;
diff --git a/test/cli.test.mjs b/test/cli.test.mjs
index 9f3396b..6720664 100644
--- a/test/cli.test.mjs
+++ b/test/cli.test.mjs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ for (const command of ["help", "--help", "-h"]) {
   });
 }
 
-for (const command of ["engines", "tools"]) {
+for (const command of ["agents", "engines", "tools"]) {
   test(`moshcode ${command} --json prints machine-readable install status`, () => {
     const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [BIN, command, "--json"], {
       encoding: "utf8",
@@ -53,6 +53,18 @@ for (const command of ["engines", "tools"]) {
   });
 }
 
+test("moshcode agents preserves engine arguments named --json", () => {
+  const result = spawnSync(
+    process.execPath,
+    [BIN, "agents", "nonexistent-engine-for-passthrough-test", "--json"],
+    { encoding: "utf8" },
+  );
+
+  assert.equal(result.status, 1);
+  assert.equal(result.stdout, "");
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /unknown engine "nonexistent-engine-for-passthrough-test"/);
+});
+
 test("moshcode commands --json prints the machine-readable vocabulary", () => {
   const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [BIN, "commands", "--json"], {
     encoding: "utf8",
diff --git a/test/completion.test.mjs b/test/completion.test.mjs
index c50cd38..7416c8c 100644
--- a/test/completion.test.mjs
+++ b/test/completion.test.mjs
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@ for (const [shell, args] of [
 test("bash completion respects argument depth and preserves file fallbacks", () => {
   assert.ok(bashCompletions(["moshcode", "cl"]).includes("claude"));
   assert.ok(bashCompletions(["moshcode", "agents", ""]).includes("cc"));
+  assert.deepEqual(bashCompletions(["moshcode", "agents", "--"]), ["--json"]);
+  assert.deepEqual(bashCompletions(["moshcode", "agents", "claude", "--"]), []);
   assert.ok(bashCompletions(["moshcode", "install", ""]).includes("claude"));
   assert.deepEqual(bashCompletions(["moshcode", "install", "claude", ""]), []);
 
diff --git a/test/tui.test.mjs b/test/tui.test.mjs
index 4f6dc0f..0334759 100644
--- a/test/tui.test.mjs
+++ b/test/tui.test.mjs
@@ -51,6 +51,24 @@ test("TUI command parsing rejects incomplete quoting", () => {
   assert.throws(() => splitCommandLine("/ugig trailing\\"), /trailing escape/);
 });
 
+test("TUI /agents --json prints machine-readable engine status", async () => {
+  const result = await runTui("/agents --json\n/quit\n");
+
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0);
+  const json = result.stdout.match(/\[\s*\{[\s\S]*?\}\s*\]/);
+  assert.ok(json, "expected a JSON status array");
+  const statuses = JSON.parse(json[0]);
+  assert.ok(statuses.some(({ name }) => name === "claude"));
+  for (const status of statuses) {
+    assert.deepEqual(Object.keys(status), ["name", "description", "binary", "installed"]);
+    assert.equal(typeof status.name, "string");
+    assert.equal(typeof status.description, "string");
+    assert.equal(typeof status.binary, "string");
+    assert.equal(typeof status.installed, "boolean");
+  }
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.stdout, /unknown engine "--json"/);
+});
+
 test("TUI /run rejects unknown options before reading a script file", async () => {
   const result = await runTui("/run --dryrun\n/quit\n");