diff --git a/src/cmd/flux-kvs.c b/src/cmd/flux-kvs.c
index 040ff0157819..829018eaf374 100644
--- a/src/cmd/flux-kvs.c
+++ b/src/cmd/flux-kvs.c
@@ -304,37 +304,73 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
     return (exitval);
 }
 
-static void output_key_json_object (const char *key, json_t *o)
+static void kv_printf (const char *key, int maxcol, const char *fmt, ...)
+{
+    va_list ap;
+    int rc;
+    char *val, *kv, *p;
+    bool overflow = false;
+
+    assert (maxcol == 0 || maxcol > 3);
+
+    va_start (ap, fmt);
+    rc = vasprintf (&val, fmt, ap);
+    va_end (ap);
+
+    if (rc < 0)
+        log_err_exit ("%s", __FUNCTION__);
+
+    if (asprintf (&kv, "%s%s%s", key ? key : "",
+                                 key ? " = " : "",
+                                 val) < 0)
+        log_err_exit ("%s", __FUNCTION__);
+
+    if (maxcol != 0) { // perform truncation
+        if ((p = strchr (kv, '\n'))) {
+            *p = '\0';
+            overflow = true;
+        }
+        if (strlen (kv) > maxcol - 3) {
+            kv[maxcol - 3] = '\0';
+            overflow = true;
+        }
+    }
+    printf ("%s%s\n", kv,
+                      overflow ? "..." : "");
+
+    free (val);
+    free (kv);
+}
+
+static void output_key_json_object (const char *key, json_t *o, int maxcol)
 {
     char *s;
-    if (key)
-        printf ("%s = ", key);
 
     switch (json_typeof (o)) {
     case JSON_NULL:
-        printf ("nil\n");
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "nil");
         break;
     case JSON_TRUE:
-        printf ("true\n");
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "true");
         break;
     case JSON_FALSE:
-        printf ("false\n");
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "false");
         break;
     case JSON_REAL:
-        printf ("%f\n", json_real_value (o));
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "%f", json_real_value (o));
         break;
     case JSON_INTEGER:
-        printf ("%lld\n", (long long)json_integer_value (o));
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "%lld", (long long)json_integer_value (o));
         break;
     case JSON_STRING:
-        printf ("%s\n", json_string_value (o));
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "%s", json_string_value (o));
         break;
     case JSON_ARRAY:
     case JSON_OBJECT:
     default:
         if (!(s = json_dumps (o, JSON_SORT_KEYS)))
             log_msg_exit ("json_dumps failed");
-        printf ("%s\n", s);
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "%s", s);
         free (s);
         break;
     }
@@ -352,7 +388,7 @@ static void output_key_json_str (const char *key,
     if (!(o = json_loads (json_str, JSON_DECODE_ANY, &error)))
         log_msg_exit ("%s: %s (line %d column %d)",
                       arg, error.text, error.line, error.column);
-    output_key_json_object (key, o);
+    output_key_json_object (key, o, 0);
     json_decref (o);
 }
 
@@ -802,20 +838,20 @@ int cmd_dropcache (optparse_t *p, int argc, char **argv)
     return (0);
 }
 
-static void dump_kvs_val (const char *key, const char *json_str)
+static void dump_kvs_val (const char *key, int maxcol, const char *value)
 {
     json_t *o;
-    json_error_t error;
 
-    if (!json_str)
-        json_str = "null";
-    if (!(o = json_loads (json_str, JSON_DECODE_ANY, &error))) {
-        printf ("%s: %s (line %d column %d)\n",
-                key, error.text, error.line, error.column);
-        return;
+    if (!value) {
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, "NULL");
+    }
+    else if ((o = json_loads (value, JSON_DECODE_ANY, NULL))) {
+        output_key_json_object (key, o, maxcol);
+        json_decref (o);
+    }
+    else {
+        kv_printf (key, maxcol, value);
     }
-    output_key_json_object (key, o);
-    json_decref (o);
 }
 
 static void dump_kvs_dir (const flux_kvsdir_t *dir, bool Ropt, bool dopt)
@@ -826,6 +862,7 @@ static void dump_kvs_dir (const flux_kvsdir_t *dir, bool Ropt, bool dopt)
     flux_kvsitr_t *itr;
     const char *name;
     char *key;
+    const int maxcol = 79;
 
     itr = flux_kvsitr_create (dir);
     while ((name = flux_kvsitr_next (itr))) {
@@ -850,11 +887,17 @@ static void dump_kvs_dir (const flux_kvsdir_t *dir, bool Ropt, bool dopt)
                 printf ("%s.\n", key);
         } else {
             if (!dopt) {
-                const char *json_str;
-                if (!(f = flux_kvs_lookupat (h, 0, key, rootref))
-                        || flux_kvs_lookup_get (f, &json_str) < 0)
+                const char *value;
+                const void *buf;
+                int len;
+                if (!(f = flux_kvs_lookupat (h, 0, key, rootref)))
+                    log_err_exit ("%s", key);
+                if (flux_kvs_lookup_get (f, &value) == 0) // null terminated
+                    dump_kvs_val (key, maxcol, value);
+                else if (flux_kvs_lookup_get_raw  (f, &buf, &len) == 0)
+                    kv_printf (key, maxcol, "%.*s", len, buf);
+                else
                     log_err_exit ("%s", key);
-                dump_kvs_val (key, json_str);
                 flux_future_destroy (f);
             }
             else