diff --git a/packages/loopover-miner/lib/governor-pause-cli.js b/packages/loopover-miner/lib/governor-pause-cli.js
index 05ee172618..aa55b5cee0 100644
--- a/packages/loopover-miner/lib/governor-pause-cli.js
+++ b/packages/loopover-miner/lib/governor-pause-cli.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 // existing single-row scalar-state table, not a new store: a pause flag has no relational key of its own, the
 // same reasoning that table's other scalar fields (rate-limit buckets, cap usage) already rely on.
 
+import { argsWantJson, describeCliError, reportCliFailure } from "./cli-error.js";
 import { openGovernorState } from "./governor-state.js";
 
 const GOVERNOR_PAUSE_USAGE = "Usage: loopover-miner governor pause [--reason <text>] [--dry-run] [--json]";
@@ -83,8 +84,7 @@ function renderPauseState(pauseState) {
 export async function runGovernorPause(args, options = {}) {
   const parsed = parseGovernorPauseArgs(args);
   if ("error" in parsed) {
-    console.error(parsed.error);
-    return 2;
+    return reportCliFailure(argsWantJson(args), parsed.error);
   }
 
   if (parsed.dryRun) {
@@ -109,16 +109,14 @@ export async function runGovernorPause(args, options = {}) {
       return 0;
     });
   } catch (error) {
-    console.error(error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
-    return 2;
+    return reportCliFailure(parsed.json, describeCliError(error));
   }
 }
 
 export async function runGovernorResume(args, options = {}) {
   const parsed = parseGovernorResumeArgs(args);
   if ("error" in parsed) {
-    console.error(parsed.error);
-    return 2;
+    return reportCliFailure(argsWantJson(args), parsed.error);
   }
 
   if (parsed.dryRun) {
@@ -142,16 +140,14 @@ export async function runGovernorResume(args, options = {}) {
       return 0;
     });
   } catch (error) {
-    console.error(error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
-    return 2;
+    return reportCliFailure(parsed.json, describeCliError(error));
   }
 }
 
 export async function runGovernorStatus(args, options = {}) {
   const parsed = parseNoArgsSubcommand(args, GOVERNOR_STATUS_USAGE);
   if ("error" in parsed) {
-    console.error(parsed.error);
-    return 2;
+    return reportCliFailure(argsWantJson(args), parsed.error);
   }
 
   try {
@@ -165,7 +161,6 @@ export async function runGovernorStatus(args, options = {}) {
       return 0;
     });
   } catch (error) {
-    console.error(error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
-    return 2;
+    return reportCliFailure(parsed.json, describeCliError(error));
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/miner-governor-pause-cli.test.ts b/test/unit/miner-governor-pause-cli.test.ts
index 5d8ef0d61e..639e1ca80a 100644
--- a/test/unit/miner-governor-pause-cli.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/miner-governor-pause-cli.test.ts
@@ -266,3 +266,97 @@ describe("loopover-miner governor pause/resume/status CLI (#4851)", () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+describe("governor pause/resume/status --json error contract (#5914)", () => {
+  it("runGovernorPause emits the JSON envelope on a parse error and never opens the store", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+    const openGovernorStateFn = vi.fn();
+
+    expect(await runGovernorPause(["--verbose", "--json"], { openGovernorState: openGovernorStateFn })).toBe(2);
+    expect(openGovernorStateFn).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(JSON.parse(String(log.mock.calls[0]?.[0]))).toEqual({ ok: false, error: "Unknown option: --verbose" });
+  });
+
+  it("runGovernorPause emits the JSON envelope when the governor state throws", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    expect(
+      await runGovernorPause(["--json"], {
+        openGovernorState: () => {
+          throw new Error("disk full");
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(2);
+    expect(JSON.parse(String(log.mock.calls[0]?.[0]))).toEqual({ ok: false, error: "disk full" });
+  });
+
+  it("runGovernorResume emits the JSON envelope on a parse error rejected before --json is reached", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    // `extra` aborts the parse before the parser ever sees --json, so the envelope can only come from
+    // argsWantJson(args) reading raw argv -- parsed.json would be unavailable here.
+    expect(await runGovernorResume(["extra", "--json"])).toBe(2);
+    const envelope = JSON.parse(String(log.mock.calls[0]?.[0]));
+    expect(envelope.ok).toBe(false);
+    expect(envelope.error).toContain("Usage: loopover-miner governor resume");
+  });
+
+  it("runGovernorResume emits the JSON envelope when the governor state throws", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    expect(
+      await runGovernorResume(["--json"], {
+        openGovernorState: () => {
+          throw new Error("disk full");
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(2);
+    expect(JSON.parse(String(log.mock.calls[0]?.[0]))).toEqual({ ok: false, error: "disk full" });
+  });
+
+  it("runGovernorStatus emits the JSON envelope on a parse error", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    expect(await runGovernorStatus(["extra", "--json"])).toBe(2);
+    const envelope = JSON.parse(String(log.mock.calls[0]?.[0]));
+    expect(envelope.ok).toBe(false);
+    expect(envelope.error).toContain("Usage: loopover-miner governor status");
+  });
+
+  it("runGovernorStatus emits the JSON envelope when the governor state throws", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    expect(
+      await runGovernorStatus(["--json"], {
+        openGovernorState: () => {
+          throw new Error("disk full");
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(2);
+    expect(JSON.parse(String(log.mock.calls[0]?.[0]))).toEqual({ ok: false, error: "disk full" });
+  });
+
+  it("keeps non-JSON error paths on stderr as plain text", async () => {
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+    const error = vi.spyOn(console, "error").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    expect(await runGovernorPause(["--verbose"])).toBe(2);
+    expect(await runGovernorResume(["extra"])).toBe(2);
+    expect(await runGovernorStatus(["extra"])).toBe(2);
+    expect(
+      await runGovernorStatus([], {
+        openGovernorState: () => {
+          throw new Error("disk full");
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(2);
+
+    expect(log).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(error.mock.calls.map((call) => String(call[0]))).toEqual([
+      "Unknown option: --verbose",
+      expect.stringContaining("Usage: loopover-miner governor resume"),
+      expect.stringContaining("Usage: loopover-miner governor status"),
+      "disk full",
+    ]);
+  });
+});