diff --git a/src/headless-triage.ts b/src/headless-triage.ts
index 0564120ac..0dce57de7 100644
--- a/src/headless-triage.ts
+++ b/src/headless-triage.ts
@@ -156,41 +156,49 @@ export async function handleTriage(
 		return { exitCode: 0 };
 	}
 
-	if (options.json) {
-		process.stdout.write(
-			`${JSON.stringify({
-				ok: true,
-				count: candidates.length,
-				candidates: candidates.map((c) => ({
-					id: c.id,
-					kind: c.kind,
-					severity: c.severity,
-					summary: c.summary,
-					ts: c.ts,
-					impact: c.impactScore ?? null,
-					effort: c.effortEstimate ?? null,
-				})),
-			})}\n`,
-		);
-		return { exitCode: 0 };
-	}
-
-	if (options.list) {
-		process.stdout.write(
-			`${candidates.length} candidate${candidates.length === 1 ? "" : "s"} (priority: impact↓ effort↑ ts↑)\n\n`,
-		);
-		for (const c of candidates) {
-			const impact = c.impactScore != null ? `i${c.impactScore}` : "i?";
-			const effort = c.effortEstimate != null ? `e${c.effortEstimate}` : "e?";
+	// --run takes precedence over --json/--list because they describe the
+	// OUTPUT FORMAT, not the action. With --run, --json controls whether
+	// the run-result is JSON vs. human text. Without --run, --json emits
+	// the candidate digest as JSON (the inspect path).
+	if (!options.run) {
+		if (options.json) {
 			process.stdout.write(
-				`  [${c.severity}] ${impact} ${effort}  ${c.id}  ${c.kind}\n`,
+				`${JSON.stringify({
+					ok: true,
+					count: candidates.length,
+					candidates: candidates.map((c) => ({
+						id: c.id,
+						kind: c.kind,
+						severity: c.severity,
+						summary: c.summary,
+						ts: c.ts,
+						impact: c.impactScore ?? null,
+						effort: c.effortEstimate ?? null,
+					})),
+				})}\n`,
 			);
-			process.stdout.write(`    ${c.summary}\n`);
+			return { exitCode: 0 };
+		}
+
+		if (options.list) {
+			process.stdout.write(
+				`${candidates.length} candidate${candidates.length === 1 ? "" : "s"} (priority: impact↓ effort↑ ts↑)\n\n`,
+			);
+			for (const c of candidates) {
+				const impact = c.impactScore != null ? `i${c.impactScore}` : "i?";
+				const effort =
+					c.effortEstimate != null ? `e${c.effortEstimate}` : "e?";
+				process.stdout.write(
+					`  [${c.severity}] ${impact} ${effort}  ${c.id}  ${c.kind}\n`,
+				);
+				process.stdout.write(`    ${c.summary}\n`);
+			}
+			return { exitCode: 0 };
 		}
-		return { exitCode: 0 };
 	}
 
-	// Default: emit the canonical triage prompt for piping into a model.
+	// Render the canonical triage prompt (used by both the default
+	// pipe-to-model output and the --run dispatch path below).
 	let prompt: string;
 	try {
 		prompt = drainModule.buildInlineFixPrompt(candidates);