jsonx

JSON query and transform CLI — simpler than jq.

Installation

pip install jsonx-cli

For JSON Schema validation:

pip install jsonx-cli[schema]

Quick Start

# Get a nested value
jsonx get .users[0].name data.json

# From stdin
cat data.json | jsonx get .config.debug

# Set a value
jsonx set .config.debug true data.json

# List all keys
jsonx keys data.json

# Pretty print
jsonx format data.json

Path Syntax

jsonx uses simple dot notation:

Pattern	Meaning
.key	Object property
.nested.key	Nested property
[0]	Array index
[-1]	Last array item
[*]	All array items
[0:3]	Array slice

Examples:

jsonx get .name data.json           # Get "name" property
jsonx get .users[0] data.json       # First user
jsonx get .users[-1] data.json      # Last user
jsonx get .users[*].email data.json # All user emails
jsonx get .items[0:5] data.json     # First 5 items

Commands

get - Extract values

jsonx get .path [file]          # Extract value at path
jsonx get .path file --raw      # Raw output (no quotes)
jsonx get .path file --json     # Force JSON output

set - Modify values

jsonx set .path value [file]    # Set and output
jsonx set .path value file -i   # Modify in place
jsonx set .path value file -o out.json  # Write to file

Value is parsed as JSON:

jsonx set .debug true data.json           # boolean
jsonx set .count 42 data.json             # number
jsonx set .name '"Alice"' data.json       # string (note quotes)
jsonx set .tags '["a","b"]' data.json     # array

del - Delete values

jsonx del .path [file]          # Delete and output
jsonx del .path file -i         # Delete in place

keys - List keys

jsonx keys [file]               # Top-level keys
jsonx keys file -r              # All keys recursively

flatten / unflatten - Structure transformation

# Flatten nested structure
jsonx flatten data.json
# {"users[0].name": "Alice", "config.debug": true}

# Unflatten back
echo '{"user.name": "Alice"}' | jsonx unflatten
# {"user": {"name": "Alice"}}

merge - Combine files

jsonx merge base.json override.json     # Deep merge
jsonx merge a.json b.json --shallow     # Shallow merge

diff - Compare files

jsonx diff old.json new.json
# + config.newKey: "value"      (green - added)
# - config.removed: true        (red - removed)  
# ~ config.changed: 1 → 2       (yellow - changed)

format / minify - Pretty print

jsonx format data.json              # Pretty print
jsonx format data.json -i 4         # 4-space indent
jsonx minify data.json              # Compact

validate - JSON Schema

jsonx validate data.json schema.json
# ✓ Valid
# or
# ✗ Invalid: 'email' is required

type - Show value type

echo '[]' | jsonx type        # array
echo '{}' | jsonx type        # object
echo '42' | jsonx type        # integer

count - Count items

jsonx count data.json                     # Top-level count
jsonx get .users data.json | jsonx count  # Count array items

each - Iterate arrays

# Output each item as JSON
jsonx each data.json -p .users

# With template
jsonx each data.json -p .users -t '{.name}: {.email}'

Piping

jsonx works great in pipelines:

# Extract, transform, merge
cat config.json | jsonx get .database | jsonx set .host '"prod.db"'

# Count users
jsonx get .users data.json | jsonx count

# Extract all emails
jsonx get .users[*].email data.json

# Filter and format
curl api/data | jsonx get .results | jsonx format

For AI Agents

See SKILL.md for agent-optimized documentation.

Exit Codes

• 0 - Success
• 1 - Error (invalid JSON, path not found, etc.)

License

MIT