jarq

An interactive jq-like JSON query tool with a TUI.

Should you use this instead of jq? Definitely not, this was just an experiment using a TUI and live filtering.

Usage

# Interactive TUI mode
echo '{"name": "Alice", "age": 30}' | jarq
cat data.json | jarq
jarq data.json

# Non-interactive mode (like jq)
echo '{"name": "Alice"}' | jarq '.name'
jarq '.items[]' data.json

In interactive mode, type filter expressions and see results in real-time.

Keyboard Controls

Navigation Mode

Filter Edit Mode

Background Evaluation

jarq evaluates filters in the background as you type. For large files, you can:

• Pause evaluation (Ctrl-P): Stop auto-evaluation while you compose a complex filter
• Cancel evaluation (Ctrl-C): Stop a long-running evaluation and enter pause mode
• Evaluate on demand (Enter): When paused, manually trigger evaluation

When paused, the filter is still validated for syntax errors in real-time.

Filter Syntax

.               # identity
.foo            # field access
.foo?           # optional (suppress errors)
.[0]            # array index
.[-1]           # negative index (from end)
.[2:5]          # array slice
.[:-1]          # slice (all but last)
.[]             # iterate all elements
.[]?            # optional iterate
.foo.bar        # chaining
.foo | length   # pipes

# Literals
42, 3.14        # numbers
"hello"         # strings
true, false     # booleans
null            # null

# Comparisons
.x == 5         # equal
.x != "foo"     # not equal
.x < 10         # less than
.x <= 10        # less or equal
.x > 0          # greater than
.x >= 0         # greater or equal

# Boolean operators
.a and .b       # logical and
.a or .b        # logical or
.x > 0 and .x < 10  # compound conditions

# Functions
map(.foo)       # apply to each element
select(.x > 5)  # filter by condition

# Construction
[.a, .b]        # array
{name: .foo}    # object
{(.key): .val}  # dynamic key

Builtins

length, keys, values, type, first, last, reverse, sort, min, max, unique, flatten, add, empty, not

Functions

• map(f) - Apply filter f to each element of an array
• select(f) - Output the input if f is truthy (not false or null)

Building

cargo build --release

License

MIT