diff --git a/src/intentumdiff/_differ_presentation.py b/src/intentumdiff/_differ_presentation.py
index 16c2630..1828add 100644
--- a/src/intentumdiff/_differ_presentation.py
+++ b/src/intentumdiff/_differ_presentation.py
@@ -486,7 +486,12 @@ def _token_fallback_diff(
             changes.append(
                 Change(
                     change_type=ChangeType.MODIFICATION,
-                    description=f"token-level fallback: {i2 - i1} token(s) → {j2 - j1} token(s)",
+                    # ASCII arrow deliberately. A Windows console defaults to cp1252, which
+                    # cannot encode U+2192, and Rich raised UnicodeEncodeError while rendering
+                    # the row — so the fallback path printed "Error: 'charmap' codec can't
+                    # encode character" INSIDE the results table, on exactly the files that had
+                    # already failed to parse.
+                    description=f"token-level fallback: {i2 - i1} token(s) -> {j2 - j1} token(s)",
                     confidence=0.5,
                 )
             )
diff --git a/src/intentumdiff/cli/__init__.py b/src/intentumdiff/cli/__init__.py
index 01f9ab9..0a2d3ed 100644
--- a/src/intentumdiff/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/src/intentumdiff/cli/__init__.py
@@ -191,7 +191,40 @@
 ]
 
 
+#: The pre-rebrand distribution. Installing IntentumDiff does not remove it, because pip
+#: treats a renamed project as an unrelated package.
+_RETIRED_DISTRIBUTION = "intentdiff"
+
+
+def _warn_if_retired_distribution_installed() -> None:
+    """
+    Warn when the pre-rebrand ``intentdiff`` distribution is installed alongside this one.
+
+    Both projects install the same ``intentumdiff`` import package, so whichever pip laid down
+    last wins and the resolved distribution name may be the retired one — which is NOT in the
+    first-party trust allowlist. Every bundled parser is then rejected as untrusted third-party
+    code, and the user sees a stream of ``native_fallback`` errors and no diff at all.
+
+    Nothing in that chain names the actual cause, and the failure is total rather than partial,
+    so it reads as "the tool is broken" rather than "you have two installs". This is the same
+    defect class that made 0.0.1 unusable: a package failing its own trust check because of how
+    its distribution name resolves.
+    """
+    try:
+        from importlib.metadata import distribution
+
+        distribution(_RETIRED_DISTRIBUTION)
+    except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001 - absence is the normal case, and any lookup failure is fine
+        return
+    _err.print(
+        f"[yellow]Warning:[/yellow] the retired '{_RETIRED_DISTRIBUTION}' distribution is "
+        "installed alongside IntentumDiff. They share an import package, so parsers may be "
+        f"rejected as untrusted and diffs may fail. Run: pip uninstall {_RETIRED_DISTRIBUTION}"
+    )
+
+
 def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> NoReturn:
+    _warn_if_retired_distribution_installed()
     _legacy_click_main(argv)
 
 
diff --git a/src/intentumdiff/cli/_commands.py b/src/intentumdiff/cli/_commands.py
index cfd55af..5f46924 100644
--- a/src/intentumdiff/cli/_commands.py
+++ b/src/intentumdiff/cli/_commands.py
@@ -454,7 +454,11 @@ def _cmd_plugins_list(_args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
 
     # Resolve the core package provenance string once for built-in rows
     import importlib.metadata as _meta
-    for _dist_name in ("intentumdiff",):
+    # The DISTRIBUTION name, which is not the import name: this package publishes as
+    # `intentumdiff-python` while `import intentumdiff` is the package. Looking up only the
+    # import name silently fell through to the bare "IntentumDiff" fallback, so every
+    # built-in plugin row lost its version.
+    for _dist_name in ("intentumdiff-python", "intentumdiff_python", "intentumdiff"):
         try:
             _core_dist = _meta.distribution(_dist_name)
             _core_prov = (
@@ -1939,6 +1943,17 @@ def _add_output_args(p: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
         metavar="FORMAT",
         help="Output format: terminal (default), json, patch, html, llm",
     )
+    # `--json` is the spelling people reach for first, and reaching for it used to fail with
+    # "unrecognized arguments: --json" even though JSON output existed the whole time behind
+    # `--format json`. An error that denies a feature you actually ship is worse than a missing
+    # feature, because it teaches the user the tool cannot do it.
+    p.add_argument(
+        "--json",
+        dest="format",
+        action="store_const",
+        const="json",
+        help="Shorthand for --format json.",
+    )
     p.add_argument(
         "--output", "-o",
         metavar="FILE",
diff --git a/src/intentumdiff/cli/_parser.py b/src/intentumdiff/cli/_parser.py
index 9eab40b..7658a47 100644
--- a/src/intentumdiff/cli/_parser.py
+++ b/src/intentumdiff/cli/_parser.py
@@ -222,7 +222,13 @@ def _build_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
     assets_git_p.set_defaults(func=_cmd_assets_git)
 
     # ── file ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-    file_p = sub.add_parser("file", help="Diff two local files.")
+    # `diff` is the first thing anyone types, and it used to fail with
+    # "No such command 'diff'. Did you mean 'gist-diff'?" — a suggestion that points away from
+    # the two commands that actually diff things. Aliasing it to `file` costs nothing and
+    # removes a dead end from the very first interaction with the tool.
+    file_p = sub.add_parser(
+        "file", aliases=["diff"], help="Diff two local files (alias: diff)."
+    )
     file_p.add_argument("old_file", metavar="OLD", help="Path to the old file.")
     file_p.add_argument("new_file", metavar="NEW", help="Path to the new file.")
     _add_output_args(file_p)
@@ -995,6 +1001,10 @@ def _click_cli(ctx: click.Context, no_banner: bool) -> None:
         ("git", "Diff files or commits in a git repository."),
         ("assets", "Perceptual diffs for non-text assets."),
         ("file", "Diff two local files."),
+        # Registered here as well as aliased on the argparse parser: this Click group is what
+        # rejects unknown commands, so without an entry here `diff` still fails before argparse
+        # is ever consulted — and fails suggesting `gist-diff`.
+        ("diff", "Diff two local files (alias for 'file')."),
         ("patch", "Diff from a unified diff patch."),
         ("string", "Diff two in-memory strings."),
         ("github-pr", "Parse a GitHub pull request URL into a review target."),
diff --git a/src/intentumdiff/differ.py b/src/intentumdiff/differ.py
index ed1a1b9..2826a16 100644
--- a/src/intentumdiff/differ.py
+++ b/src/intentumdiff/differ.py
@@ -1668,7 +1668,7 @@ def _run_stages_1_to_11(
             _has_error_node(old_tree) or _has_error_node(new_tree)
         ):
             logger.warning(
-                "Parse errors detected in %r — falling back to token-level diff",
+                "Parse errors detected in %r - falling back to token-level diff",
                 filename,
             )
             _raise_rust_only_gate_error("parse errors require Rust token-level fallback")