diff --git a/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts b/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts
index b0d66a07..16ec3022 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts
+++ b/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts
@@ -168,7 +168,13 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
   }
 
   if (cmd === "search") {
-    const fmt = (flags.format as string) || "json"
+    const fmt = flags.format !== undefined ? String(flags.format) : "json"
+    if (!["json", "table", "plain"].includes(fmt)) {
+      process.stderr.write(
+        JSON.stringify({ error: `--format must be one of json|table|plain, got "${fmt}"`, code: "BAD_ARG" }) + "\n",
+      )
+      return 1
+    }
 
     // Validated here rather than server-side: the API answers an unrecognized
     // format with raw HTML instead of an error, so a typo would silently change
@@ -209,7 +215,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       jobage: flags.jobage ? parseInt(flags.jobage as string, 10) : 9999,
       page: flags.page ? Math.max(1, parseInt(flags.page as string, 10)) : 1,
       limit: flags.limit ? Math.max(1, parseInt(flags.limit as string, 10)) : 25,
-      format: (["json", "table", "plain"].includes(fmt) ? fmt : "json") as SearchOpts["format"],
+      format: fmt as SearchOpts["format"],
       descriptionFormat: descFmt as DescriptionFormat,
       includeDescription: flags["no-description"] === undefined,
       regions: commaList(flags.region),
@@ -232,8 +238,14 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       process.stderr.write(JSON.stringify({ error: "detail requires a <slug|url>", code: "NO_ID" }) + "\n")
       return 1
     }
-    const fmt = (flags.format as string) || "json"
-    const opts: DetailOpts = { id, format: fmt === "plain" ? "plain" : "json" }
+    const fmt = flags.format !== undefined ? String(flags.format) : "json"
+    if (!["json", "plain"].includes(fmt)) {
+      process.stderr.write(
+        JSON.stringify({ error: `--format must be one of json|plain, got "${fmt}"`, code: "BAD_ARG" }) + "\n",
+      )
+      return 1
+    }
+    const opts: DetailOpts = { id, format: fmt as DetailOpts["format"] }
     return runDetail(opts)
   }
 
diff --git a/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts b/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts
index 9691d6ab..372f94eb 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts
+++ b/.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,24 @@ describe("freehire CLI flag validation", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe("--format validation", () => {
+    test("search with an unsupported format exits 1 with BAD_ARG", async () => {
+      const result = await runCLI(["search", "--format", "invalid"]);
+      expect(result.exitCode).not.toBe(0);
+      const err = parsedStderr(result.stderr);
+      expect(err.code).toBe("BAD_ARG");
+      expect(err.error).toMatch(/format/);
+    });
+
+    test("detail with an unsupported format exits 1 with BAD_ARG", async () => {
+      const result = await runCLI(["detail", "example-slug", "--format", "table"]);
+      expect(result.exitCode).not.toBe(0);
+      const err = parsedStderr(result.stderr);
+      expect(err.code).toBe("BAD_ARG");
+      expect(err.error).toMatch(/format/);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe("detail argument validation", () => {
     test("missing slug exits 1 with NO_ID", async () => {
       const result = await runCLI(["detail"]);
diff --git a/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/src/cli.ts b/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/src/cli.ts
index 5d413a53..d3f7e597 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/src/cli.ts
+++ b/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/src/cli.ts
@@ -113,7 +113,13 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       )
       return 1
     }
-    const fmt = (flags.format as string) || "json"
+    const fmt = flags.format !== undefined ? String(flags.format) : "json"
+    if (!["json", "table", "plain"].includes(fmt)) {
+      process.stderr.write(
+        JSON.stringify({ error: `--format must be one of json|table|plain, got "${fmt}"`, code: "BAD_ARG" }) + "\n",
+      )
+      return 1
+    }
 
     if (flags.jobage !== undefined && flags["jobage-minutes"] !== undefined) {
       process.stderr.write(
@@ -168,7 +174,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       remote: typeof flags.remote === "string" ? flags.remote : undefined,
       page: flags.page ? Math.max(1, parseInt(flags.page as string, 10)) : 1,
       limit: flags.limit ? parseInt(flags.limit as string, 10) : undefined,
-      format: (["json", "table", "plain"].includes(fmt) ? fmt : "json") as SearchOpts["format"],
+      format: fmt as SearchOpts["format"],
     }
     return runSearch(opts)
   }
@@ -179,10 +185,16 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       process.stderr.write(JSON.stringify({ error: "detail requires an <id|url>", code: "NO_ID" }) + "\n")
       return 1
     }
-    const fmt = (flags.format as string) || "json"
+    const fmt = flags.format !== undefined ? String(flags.format) : "json"
+    if (!["json", "plain"].includes(fmt)) {
+      process.stderr.write(
+        JSON.stringify({ error: `--format must be one of json|plain, got "${fmt}"`, code: "BAD_ARG" }) + "\n",
+      )
+      return 1
+    }
     const opts: DetailOpts = {
       id,
-      format: (fmt === "plain" ? "plain" : "json") as DetailOpts["format"],
+      format: fmt as DetailOpts["format"],
     }
     return runDetail(opts)
   }
diff --git a/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts b/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts
index cf09bac1..af96989f 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts
+++ b/.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/tests/cli-flag-validation.test.ts
@@ -134,6 +134,24 @@ describe("LinkedIn CLI flag validation", () => {
       expect(err.code).not.toBe("BAD_ARG");
     });
   });
+
+  describe("--format validation", () => {
+    test("search with an unsupported format exits 1 with BAD_ARG", async () => {
+      const result = await runCLI(["search", "-l", LOCATION, "--format", "invalid"]);
+      expect(result.exitCode).not.toBe(0);
+      const err = parsedStderr(result.stderr);
+      expect(err.code).toBe("BAD_ARG");
+      expect(err.error).toMatch(/format/);
+    });
+
+    test("detail with an unsupported format exits 1 with BAD_ARG", async () => {
+      const result = await runCLI(["detail", "123456", "--format", "table"]);
+      expect(result.exitCode).not.toBe(0);
+      const err = parsedStderr(result.stderr);
+      expect(err.code).toBe("BAD_ARG");
+      expect(err.error).toMatch(/format/);
+    });
+  });
 });
 
 
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 848e3c4a..ca424f9d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ per-file diff commands.
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- **`linkedin-search` and `freehire-search` reject invalid `--format` flags with `BAD_ARG`** (#555,
+  `.agents/skills/linkedin-search/cli/src/cli.ts`, `.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts`) -
+  unrecognized `--format` flags previously fell back silently to `"json"` with exit code 0, masking
+  formatting typos and violating the CLI contract. Both CLIs now validate format arguments strictly
+  (`json|table|plain` for search, `json|plain` for detail) and exit 1 with `{ error, code: "BAD_ARG" }`
+  on invalid options.
+
 - **`jobdanmark-search detail` no longer keeps a malformed closing tag as text on the
   rendered-HTML branch** (#525, `detail.ts`, `tests/detail-parsing.test.ts`) - a live page wrote
   its Jobtype item as `Fuldtid </ li >`, and because `node-html-parser` does not recognise a