If a Gravity Forms entry looks correct in WordPress but array-valued fields look wrong in your terminal, check the CLI Add-On version before changing the data. Gravity Forms CLI 1.9.1, announced October 7, 2026, fixes array values being cast to a string when displaying an entry.
The release announcement describes a display fix. It does not establish that every malformed export has this cause, or that existing stored records need a repair. Keep that distinction clear when responding to a client who thinks answers have disappeared.
Freeze the record, not the whole website
Choose one synthetic staging entry with a field type your installation actually stores as an array. Record the form ID, entry ID, field ID, expected values, Gravity Forms version, and CLI Add-On version. Add a scalar text field and an empty field as comparison cases.
Inspect the entry in the admin interface and capture the terminal result for that same ID. Avoid displaying real respondent details in shared terminals or CI logs. Do not use entry update, import, or delete commands as diagnostic probes.
Compare structured output
The entry command reference documents the read operation below. Replace 123 with the ID of your synthetic entry, and run it in the correct authorized WordPress installation:
wp gf entry get 123 --format=json --raw
Treat the output as structured data. A list rendered as a single display label is not necessarily a string in storage. Compare field IDs, types, and values rather than terminal column widths or the order of object keys. An array, an empty array, a missing field, and an empty string should not be silently combined by an import script.
Identity: Same form and entry IDs. Types: Array and scalar stay distinct. No mutation: No entry update or import. Regression: Empty and Unicode values checked. Explanatory checklist, not a customer test result.
Upgrade the component that formats the output
Back up the staging environment and install the corrected stable CLI Add-On through your normal supported update process. Then repeat the read against the same entry. Record the actual version now installed, not just the version offered in an update notice.
If the terminal output is repaired while the admin values remain unchanged, document this as a display-layer correction. If both outputs are wrong, stop treating the CLI release as the complete explanation. Inspect the form definition and the process that originally created or imported the entry.
Protect downstream scripts
Review jobs that parse human-readable tables. A display correction can expose an assumption in a script even when the plugin now behaves correctly. Prefer documented JSON output and an explicit field mapping. Test a multi-value field, one value, no value, and non-English text. Make the consumer reject an unexpected shape instead of joining values into an irreversible string.
For survey reporting, use the entry-to-survey export reconciliation guide to distinguish response counts from choice counts. This CLI fix is not permission to relabel historical answers or recalculate their scores.
Keep a redacted before-and-after sample and the command used. HandL WP can investigate the remaining data mismatch when the same entry disagrees across the admin interface, structured output, and the system receiving it.
References reviewed October 9, 2026. Examples are explanatory, not customer test results.