diff --git a/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.test.ts b/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.test.ts
index aa4eb2a75374..503621023bcb 100644
--- a/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.test.ts
@@ -72,6 +72,23 @@ describe("cron edit command", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("rethrows contradictory options in JSON mode without accessing the Gateway", async () => {
+    const originalArgv = process.argv;
+    const exitSpy = vi.spyOn(defaultRuntime, "exit").mockImplementation((() => undefined) as never);
+    process.argv = ["node", "openclaw", "cron", "edit", "job-1", "--json"];
+    try {
+      await expect(
+        createCronProgram()
+          .parseAsync(["edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--disable", "--json"], { from: "user" })
+          .then(() => undefined),
+      ).rejects.toThrow("Choose --enable or --disable, not both");
+      expect(callGatewayFromCli).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    } finally {
+      process.argv = originalArgv;
+      exitSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+
   it("updates the human-readable display name without changing the job name", async () => {
     await createCronProgram().parseAsync(["edit", "job-1", "--display-name", "Daily summary"], {
       from: "user",
diff --git a/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.ts b/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.ts
index dea2ebd46c75..37347b071616 100644
--- a/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.ts
+++ b/src/cli/cron-cli/register.cron-edit.ts
@@ -7,15 +7,10 @@ import {
 import type { Command } from "commander";
 import type { CronJob } from "../../cron/types.js";
 import { normalizeHttpWebhookUrl } from "../../cron/webhook-url.js";
-import { danger } from "../../globals.js";
-import { formatErrorMessage } from "../../infra/errors.js";
 import { sanitizeAgentId } from "../../routing/session-key.js";
 import { defaultRuntime } from "../../runtime.js";
-import {
-  addGatewayClientOptions,
-  callGatewayFromCli,
-  type GatewayRpcOpts,
-} from "../gateway-rpc.js";
+import type { GatewayRpcOpts } from "../gateway-rpc.js";
+import { addGatewayClientOptions, callGatewayFromCli } from "../gateway-rpc.js";
 import { parseDurationMs } from "../parse-duration.js";
 import { isUnknownCronGetMethodError, listCronJobsFromGateway } from "./list-jobs.js";
 import { createCronOutputCommand } from "./output-mode.js";
@@ -27,7 +22,11 @@ import {
   resolveCronEditScheduleRequest,
   validateStreamScheduleMetadata,
 } from "./schedule-options.js";
-import { getCronChannelOptions, warnIfCronSchedulerDisabled } from "./shared.js";
+import {
+  getCronChannelOptions,
+  handleCronCliError,
+  warnIfCronSchedulerDisabled,
+} from "./shared.js";
 import { normalizeCronSessionTargetOption } from "./thread-id-shared.js";
 import { readCronTriggerScript } from "./trigger-options.js";
 
@@ -439,8 +438,7 @@ export function registerCronEditCommand(cron: Command) {
           defaultRuntime.writeJson(res);
           await warnIfCronSchedulerDisabled(opts);
         } catch (err) {
-          defaultRuntime.error(danger(formatErrorMessage(err)));
-          defaultRuntime.exit(1);
+          handleCronCliError(err);
         }
       }),
   );
diff --git a/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts b/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts
index e36998684926..4ccb12e632b6 100644
--- a/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli-json-stdout.e2e.test.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,117 @@ async function seedTrajectorySession(tempHome: string, sessionKey: string) {
 }
 
 describe("cli json stdout contract", () => {
+  it.each([
+    {
+      name: "implicit JSON",
+      args: ["cron", "edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--disable"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "explicit JSON",
+      args: ["cron", "edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--disable", "--json"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "automation alias implicit JSON",
+      args: ["automations", "edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--disable"],
+    },
+    {
+      name: "ordinary local validation failure",
+      args: ["cron", "edit", "job-1", "--command-cwd", "", "--json"],
+      message: "--command-cwd must not be blank",
+    },
+    {
+      name: "Gateway failure implicit JSON",
+      args: ["cron", "edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--port", "29793", "--token", "fixture-token"],
+      gatewayRequest: true,
+    },
+    {
+      name: "Gateway failure explicit JSON",
+      args: [
+        "cron",
+        "edit",
+        "job-1",
+        "--enable",
+        "--port",
+        "29793",
+        "--token",
+        "fixture-token",
+        "--json",
+      ],
+      gatewayRequest: true,
+    },
+    {
+      name: "forced Commander JSON",
+      args: ["cron", "edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--disable", "--json"],
+      commander: true,
+    },
+    {
+      name: "dual-TTY JSON",
+      args: ["cron", "edit", "job-1", "--enable", "--disable", "--json"],
+      tty: true,
+    },
+    {
+      name: "human-output sibling",
+      args: ["cron", "list", "--agent", ""],
+      message: "--agent must not be blank",
+      human: true,
+    },
+  ])("renders cron edit failures through the shared owner for $name", async (testCase) => {
+    await withTempHome(
+      async (tempHome) => {
+        const configPath = path.join(tempHome, "missing-openclaw.json");
+        const stateDir = path.join(tempHome, "isolated-state");
+        const gatewayError = "AUTOQA_INJECTED_GATEWAY_FAILURE";
+        const preload = Buffer.from(
+          [
+            'import net from "node:net";',
+            `net.Socket.prototype.connect = function () { throw new Error(${JSON.stringify(gatewayError)}); };`,
+            ...("tty" in testCase
+              ? [
+                  'Object.defineProperty(process.stdout, "isTTY", { value: true, configurable: true });',
+                  'Object.defineProperty(process.stderr, "isTTY", { value: true, configurable: true });',
+                ]
+              : []),
+          ].join("\n"),
+        ).toString("base64");
+        const result = runBuiltCli(tempHome, testCase.args, {
+          NODE_OPTIONS: `--import=data:text/javascript;base64,${preload}`,
+          OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH: configPath,
+          OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BUNDLED_PLUGINS: "1",
+          OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR: stateDir,
+          ...("commander" in testCase ? { OPENCLAW_DISABLE_ROUTE_FIRST: "1" } : {}),
+          ...("tty" in testCase ? { FORCE_COLOR: "1" } : {}),
+        });
+        const message =
+          "gatewayRequest" in testCase
+            ? gatewayError
+            : (testCase.message ?? "Choose --enable or --disable, not both");
+
+        expect(result.status, result.stderr).toBe(1);
+        expect(result.stdout, result.stderr).not.toMatch(/[\u001B\u0007]/u);
+        if ("human" in testCase) {
+          expect(result.stdout).toBe("");
+        } else {
+          expect(JSON.parse(result.stdout)).toEqual({
+            ok: false,
+            error: { type: "cli_error", message },
+          });
+        }
+        expect(result.stderr).toContain(message);
+        if ("gatewayRequest" in testCase) {
+          expect(result.stderr).toContain(gatewayError);
+        } else {
+          expect(result.stderr).not.toContain(gatewayError);
+          await expect(fs.stat(stateDir)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "ENOENT" });
+        }
+        if ("tty" in testCase) {
+          expect(result.stderr).toContain("\u001B[?25h");
+        }
+        await expect(fs.stat(configPath)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: "ENOENT" });
+      },
+      { prefix: "openclaw-cron-edit-json-failure-e2e-" },
+    );
+  });
+
   it.each([
     {
       name: "bare report with parent JSON",