jsondelta

Semantic diff of two JSON files. Key order is ignored, changes are reported by path, and exit codes make it CI-friendly. Python 3.9+, stdlib only.

$ jsondelta old.json new.json
~ server.port: 80 -> 8080
- features[2]: "beta"
+ owner: "ops"
$ jsondelta a.json b.json --unordered --ignore meta.updated
$ cat new.json | jsondelta old.json - --json

Options: --unordered (arrays as multisets), --ignore PATH (repeatable), --json, -q. Exit codes: 0 identical, 1 differences, 2 bad input (invalid JSON, unreadable file). Types matter: true vs 1 is a change.

Install: pip install jsondelta-cli (command: jsondelta) or copy jsondelta.py.

Tests

pytest (11 tests; Python 3.9 and 3.14).

Support

If this saves you time, you can donate via PayPal. MIT license.