diff --git a/scripts/ito.js b/scripts/ito.js
index eec7a650f..507bc18e0 100755
--- a/scripts/ito.js
+++ b/scripts/ito.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const path = require("path");
 const { spawnSync } = require("child_process");
 const {
   createSafeItoInvocationEnvironment,
+  getInvocationCommand,
 } = require("./lib/ito-environment");
 
 const SUPPORTED_COMMANDS = Object.freeze(["auth", "find", "status", "evals"]);
@@ -252,7 +253,7 @@ function buildInvocation(executable, args) {
 
 function invokeIto(executable, args, environment = process.env) {
   const invocation = buildInvocation(executable, args);
-  const command = args[0] === "--json" ? args[1] : args[0];
+  const command = getInvocationCommand(args);
   const isNodeQualification = command === "evals";
   const result = spawnSync(invocation.executable, invocation.args, {
     cwd: process.cwd(),
diff --git a/scripts/lib/ito-environment.js b/scripts/lib/ito-environment.js
index 93f6490f1..03a944119 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/ito-environment.js
+++ b/scripts/lib/ito-environment.js
@@ -80,12 +80,16 @@ function createSafeItoEnvironment(source = process.env, options = {}) {
   return Object.freeze(safe);
 }
 
+function getInvocationCommand(args = []) {
+  return args.filter((value) => value !== "--json")[0];
+}
+
 function createSafeItoInvocationEnvironment(
   source = process.env,
   args = [],
   options = {},
 ) {
-  const command = args.filter((value) => value !== "--json")[0];
+  const command = getInvocationCommand(args);
   return createSafeItoEnvironment(source, {
     includeControls: options.includeControls === true,
     includeItoRuntime: ITO_RUNTIME_COMMANDS.has(command),
@@ -100,4 +104,5 @@ module.exports = Object.freeze({
   SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_KEYS,
   createSafeItoEnvironment,
   createSafeItoInvocationEnvironment,
+  getInvocationCommand,
 });
diff --git a/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js b/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js
index 7f52d469b..37e2ce1a0 100644
--- a/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js
+++ b/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ const {
 } = require("../../scripts/ito");
 const {
   createSafeItoInvocationEnvironment,
+  getInvocationCommand,
 } = require("../../scripts/lib/ito-environment");
 
 function runCli(args, environment = {}) {
@@ -323,6 +324,11 @@ function main() {
       assert.strictEqual(safe.ITO_API_KEY, undefined);
       assert.strictEqual(safe.SIXTYTWO_TOKEN, undefined);
     }],
+    ["detects the Itō command consistently with or without the global JSON flag", () => {
+      assert.strictEqual(getInvocationCommand(["auth"]), "auth");
+      assert.strictEqual(getInvocationCommand(["--json", "evals"]), "evals");
+      assert.strictEqual(getInvocationCommand([]), undefined);
+    }],
     ["bounds the outer node-qualification process beyond the canonical timeout", () => {
       assert.strictEqual(NODE_QUALIFICATION_TIMEOUT_MS, 31 * 60 * 1000);
       const source = fs.readFileSync(ITO_SCRIPT, "utf8");