Awesome

jq zsh plugin

Interactively build jq expressions (gojq is also supported).

This zsh plugin gives you jq superpowers!

Fish users: you can use this friendly fork: rmartine-ias/jq-fish-plugin

Demos
Installation
Usage
Key bindings

Demos

Interactive jq query construction

Insert jq query in the middle of a pipeline

Installation

Besides jq, this plugin also requires fzf (a recent version) to be installed and available on your PATH.

The following installation methods are proven to work:

Oh My Zsh
zplug
Antigen
Zgen

Oh My Zsh

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/jq

Add the plugin to the list of plugins for Oh My Zsh to load (inside ~/.zshrc):

plugins=(
	# other plugins...
	jq
)

Start a new terminal session.

zplug

zplug reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin

Antigen

antigen bundle reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin

Zgen

zgen load reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin

Usage

type out a command that you expect to produce json on its standard output
press alt + j
start typing jq expression and watch it being evaluated in real time (like a true REPL!)
use up/down and hit tab to select one of the suggestions
or type out a jq query on your own
press enter, and the jq expression is appended to your initial command!

Key bindings

Bringing up the jq query builder for a shell command: alt + j

During interactive querying, the following shortcuts can be used:

Shortcut	Effect
`ctrl-k` or `up`	Navigate path queries
`ctrl-j` or `down`	Navigate path queries
`tab`	Select path query
`ctrl-p` or `shift-up`	Scroll up
`ctrl-n` or `shift-down`	Scroll down
`ctrl-alt-p`	Scroll up half page
`ctrl-alt-n`	Scroll down half page
`alt-up`	Scroll up full page
`alt-down`	Scroll down full page
`ctrl-r`	Reload input
`ctrl-y`	Yank selected path to clipboard (GNU/Linux only)

gojq support

If you want to use an alternative jq implementation, like gojq then you can override the default jq command used by the plugin. Set the following environment variable:

JQ_REPL_JQ=gojq

Internals

The project consists of the following components:

a jq.plugin.zsh providing a user-defined zsh line-editor widget, utilizing the jq-repl command
a jq-repl command to interactively build jq expressions, utilizing fzf for its UI
a jq-paths command to get all valid jq paths in the provided JSON document, used for suggesting paths.

Troubleshooting

MacOS: Pressing alt-j creates a `∆` symbol in iTerm2

You need to remap your alt-key to Esc+ in iTerm2:

Cmd + , to enter preferences
Go to Profiles
select your profile from the pane on the left hand side
go to the keys tab
Set Left Option (⌥ ) Key to Esc+

See other suggestions on stackoverflow if the above one doesn't help you: https://stackoverflow.com/q/196357/205318

Another option is to map to ctrl+j instead by putting this in your .zshrc:

bindkey `^j` jq-complete

Disable expanding shell aliases

The plugin automatically expands shell aliases in a command before passing it to jq-repl. To disable, put the following line into your .zshrc:

JQ_ZSH_PLUGIN_EXPAND_ALIASES=0