About jxcape

jxcape is a tool for creating JSON values from the command line.

Strings

To convert a value into a JSON string, use the string subcommand:

$ jxcape string "Hello, world!"
"Hello, world!"

It can also take input from stdin:

$ echo "Hello, world!" | jxcape string --from-stdin 
"Hello, world!"

Arrays

To convert a value into a JSON array, use the array subcommand:

$ jxcape array 1 2 3
["1","2","3"]

By default, jxscape will treat all input as strings. To treat input as native JSON, use the --auto flag:

$ jxcape array --auto 1 2 3 foo
[1,2,3,"foo"]

Any value that cannot be parsed as JSON will be treated as a string.

It can also take input from stdin:

$ seq 3 | jxcape array --from-stdin
["1","2","3"]

If for some reason you need an empty array, you can use the --empty flag:

$ jxcape array --empty
[]

This is included mostly for completeness.

Objects

To convert a value into a JSON object, use the object subcommand:

$ jxcape object foo=1 bar=2
{"foo":"1","bar":"2"}

By default, jxscape will treat all input as strings. To treat input as native JSON, use the --auto flag:

$ jxcape object --auto foo=1 bar=2 baz=3
{"foo":1,"bar":2,"baz":3}

Any value that cannot be parsed as JSON will be treated as a string.

It can also take input from stdin:

$ env | jxcape object --from-stdin
{"TERM":"xterm-256color","SHELL":"/bin/bash",...} # truncated for brevity

You can specify a custom separator using the --separator flag:

$ jxcape object --separator=: foo:1 bar:2 baz:3
{"foo":"1","bar":"2","baz":"3"}

Separators can be multiple characters:

$ jxcape object --separator=:: foo::1 bar::2 baz::3
{"foo":"1","bar":"2","baz":"3"}

If a key is specified multiple times, the last value to appear will be used:

$ jxcape object foo=1 foo=2 foo=3
{"foo":"3"}

If for some reason you need an empty object, you can use the --empty flag:

$ jxcape object --empty
{}

This is included mostly for completeness.

Pretty Printing

To pretty print a JSON value, use the --pretty flag before the subcommand:

$ jxcape --pretty array 1 2 3
[
  "1",
  "2",
  "3"
]

Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from the releases page.

Available platforms:

• Linux (x86_64): jxcape-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
• macOS (x86_64): jxcape-macos-x86_64.tar.gz
• macOS (ARM64): jxcape-macos-aarch64.tar.gz
• Windows (x86_64): jxcape-windows-x86_64.zip

Extract the archive and add the binary to your PATH.

From Crates.io

$ cargo install jxcape

From Source

$ git clone https://github.com/rhysparry/jxcape.git
$ cd jxcape
$ cargo install --path .

Releasing

This project uses an automated release process. To create a new release:

1. Update the version in Cargo.toml
2. Update the changelog by running just changelog (requires git-cliff)
3. Commit the changes: git commit -am "chore: bump version to X.Y.Z"
4. Create and push a tag: git tag vX.Y.Z && git push origin vX.Y.Z

The release workflow will automatically:

• Build binaries for multiple platforms
• Create a GitHub release with changelog content
• Upload compressed binary assets
• Publish the crate to crates.io

Prerequisites for Releases

• The CRATES_IO_TOKEN secret must be configured in the repository settings
• The version in Cargo.toml should match the tag (without the 'v' prefix)
• All quality checks (tests, clippy) must pass