diff --git a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py
index 94006c9577a..842af268ee7 100644
--- a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py
+++ b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ try:
     import shlex
     import sys
     import types
+    import copy
 
     from cachemaker import loadcache, savecache, monkeycache, splitverbsubject
     from config import __version__, __description__, __projecturl__
@@ -162,6 +163,44 @@ class CloudMonkeyShell(cmd.Cmd, object):
                 self.monkeyprint(printer)
             return PrettyTable(toprow)
 
+        # method: print_result_json( result, result_filter )
+        # parameters: result - raw results from the API call
+        #             result_filter - filterset
+        # description: prints result as a json object
+        def print_result_json(result, result_filter=None):
+            tfilter = {} # temp var to hold a dict of the filters
+            tresult = copy.deepcopy(result) # dupe the result to filter
+            if result_filter != None:
+                for res in result_filter:
+                    tfilter[ res ] = 1
+                myresults = {}
+                for okey, oval in result.iteritems():
+                    if isinstance( oval, dict ):
+                        for tkey in x:
+                            if tkey not in tfilter:
+                                try:
+                                    del( tresult[okey][x][tkey] )
+                                except:
+                                    pass
+                    elif isinstance( oval, list ):
+                        for x in range( len( oval ) ):
+                            if isinstance( oval[x], dict ):
+                                for tkey in oval[x]:
+                                    if tkey not in tfilter:
+                                        try:
+                                            del( tresult[okey][x][tkey] )
+                                        except:
+                                            pass
+                            else:
+                                try:
+                                    del( tresult[ okey ][ x ] )
+                                except:
+                                    pass
+            print json.dumps(tresult,
+                             sort_keys=True,
+                             indent=2,
+                             separators=(',', ': '))
+
         def print_result_tabular(result, result_filter=None):
             toprow = None
             printer = None
@@ -183,6 +222,12 @@ class CloudMonkeyShell(cmd.Cmd, object):
                 self.monkeyprint(printer)
 
         def print_result_as_dict(result, result_filter=None):
+
+            # tabularize overrides self.display
+            if self.display == "json" and not self.tabularize == "true":
+                print_result_json(result, result_filter)
+                return
+
             for key in sorted(result.keys(), key=lambda x:
                               x not in ['id', 'count', 'name'] and x):
                 if not (isinstance(result[key], list) or
@@ -195,7 +240,7 @@ class CloudMonkeyShell(cmd.Cmd, object):
         def print_result_as_list(result, result_filter=None):
             for node in result:
                 # Tabular print if it's a list of dict and tabularize is true
-                if isinstance(node, dict) and self.tabularize == 'true':
+                if isinstance(node, dict) and (self.display == 'tabularize' or self.tabularize == 'true'):
                     print_result_tabular(result, result_filter)
                     break
                 self.print_result(node)
@@ -318,7 +363,7 @@ class CloudMonkeyShell(cmd.Cmd, object):
                     autocompletions = uuids
                     search_string = value
 
-        if self.tabularize == "true" and subject != "":
+        if (self.display == "tabularize" or self.display == "json" or self.tabularize == "true") and subject != "":
             autocompletions.append("filter=")
         return [s for s in autocompletions if s.startswith(search_string)]
 
@@ -459,7 +504,6 @@ class CloudMonkeyShell(cmd.Cmd, object):
         self.monkeyprint("Bye!")
         return self.do_EOF(args)
 
-
 class MonkeyParser(OptionParser):
     def format_help(self, formatter=None):
         if formatter is None:
@@ -473,7 +517,6 @@ class MonkeyParser(OptionParser):
         result.append("\nTry cloudmonkey [help|?]\n")
         return "".join(result)
 
-
 def main():
     parser = MonkeyParser()
     parser.add_option("-c", "--config-file",
diff --git a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py
index 75605df93b7..b21ae4c608d 100644
--- a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py
+++ b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ config_fields['core']['log_file'] = expanduser(config_dir + '/log')
 # ui
 config_fields['ui']['color'] = 'true'
 config_fields['ui']['prompt'] = '> '
-config_fields['ui']['tabularize'] = 'false'
+config_fields['ui']['tabularize'] = 'false' # deprecate - REMOVE
+config_fields['ui']['display'] = 'default' # default display mechanism
 
 # server
 config_fields['server']['host'] = 'localhost'
@@ -111,9 +112,19 @@ def read_config(get_attr, set_attr, config_file):
     for section in config_fields.keys():
         for key in config_fields[section].keys():
             try:
+                if( key == "tabularize" ): # this key is deprecated
+                    print "\ntabularize config parameter is deprecated:",
+                    print "please switch to display =",
+                    print "[default,json,tabularize]\n"
                 set_attr(key, config.get(section, key))
             except Exception:
-                missing_keys.append(key)
+                if( key == "tabularize" ): # this key is deprecated
+                    set_attr( key, "false" ) # set default
+                elif( key == "display" ): # this key is deprecated
+                    config = write_config(get_attr, config_file, True)
+                    set_attr( key, "default" ) # set default
+                else:
+                    missing_keys.append(key)
 
     if len(missing_keys) > 0:
         print "Please fix `%s` in %s" % (', '.join(missing_keys), config_file)