jid

Json Incremental Digger

It's a very simple tool. You can drill down JSON interactively by using filtering queries like jq.

Suggestion, Auto completion, and JMESPath support provide a comfortable JSON exploration experience.

Demo

Drill-down navigation

Interactively navigate JSON using dot-path queries. Tab-complete fields, cycle through candidates, and see the matching key highlighted in the JSON view in real time.

JMESPath expressions

Use pipes, wildcards, and built-in functions directly in the filter. Function candidates are shown with usage hints and argument templates are filled in automatically.

Installation

• With HomeBrew (for macOS)
• With MacPorts (for macOS)
• With pkg (for FreeBSD)
• With scoop (for Windows)
• Other package management system
• Simply use "jid" command
• Build

With HomeBrew (for macOS)

brew install jid

With MacPorts (for macOS)

sudo port install jid

With pkg (for FreeBSD)

pkg install jid

With scoop (for Windows)

scoop install jid

Other package management systems

Jid can install by package management systems of below OS.

Simply use "jid" command

If you simply want to use jid command, please download binary from below.

https://github.com/simeji/jid/releases

Build

go install github.com/simeji/jid/cmd/jid@latest

Usage

Quick start

• simple json example
• simple json example2
• with initial query
• with curl

simple json example

Please execute the below command.

echo '{"aa":"2AA2","bb":{"aaa":[123,"cccc",[1,2]],"c":321}}'| jid

then, jid will be running.

You can dig JSON data incrementally.

When you enter .bb.aaa[2], you will see the following.

[Filter]> .bb.aaa[2]
[
  1,
  2
]

Then, you press Enter key and output [1,2] and exit.

simple json example2

echo '{"info":{"date":"2016-10-23","version":1.0},"users":[{"name":"simeji","uri":"https://github.com/simeji","id":1},{"name":"simeji2","uri":"https://example.com/simeji","id":2},{"name":"simeji3","uri":"https://example.com/simeji3","id":3}],"userCount":3}}'|jid

With a initial query

First argument of jid is initial query. (Use JSON same as Demo)

with curl

Sample for using RDAP data.

curl -s http://rdg.afilias.info/rdap/domain/example.info | jid

Load JSON from a file

jid < file.json

Keymaps

key	description
TAB / CTRL + I	Show available items and choose them (cycles forward); highlights the matching key in the JSON view
Shift + TAB	Cycle candidates backward / decrement array index
CTRL + W	Delete one JMESPath segment backward (e.g. .id → [0] → func(@) → pipe)
CTRL + U	Delete whole query
CTRL + X	Toggle function description display (visible when function candidates are shown)
CTRL + F / Right Arrow (:arrow_right:)	Move cursor a character to the right
CTRL + B / Left Arrow (:arrow_left:)	Move cursor a character to the left
CTRL + A	To the first character of the 'Filter'
CTRL + E	To the end of the 'Filter'
CTRL + J	Scroll json buffer 1 line downwards
CTRL + K	Scroll json buffer 1 line upwards
CTRL + G	Scroll json buffer to bottom
CTRL + T	Scroll json buffer to top
CTRL + N	Scroll json buffer 'Page Down'
CTRL + P	Scroll json buffer 'Page Up'
CTRL + L	Change view mode whole json or keys (only object)
ESC	Hide a candidate box
Up Arrow	Navigate to previous query in history
Down Arrow	Navigate to next query in history

Option

option	description
First argument ($1)	Initial query
-h	print a help
-help	print a help
-version	print the version and exit
-q	Output query mode (for jq)
-M	monochrome output mode

Configuration

jid can be configured via a TOML file located at:

OS	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/jid/config.toml
Linux	~/.config/jid/config.toml
Windows	%AppData%\jid\config.toml

Example config.toml

[history]
path = "~/.jid_history"  # custom history file path
max_size = 1000           # number of entries to keep

[keybindings]
history_prev    = "up"      # navigate to older query
history_next    = "down"    # navigate to newer query
scroll_down     = "ctrl+j"
scroll_up       = "ctrl+k"
scroll_to_bottom = "ctrl+g"
scroll_to_top   = "ctrl+t"
scroll_page_down = "ctrl+n"
scroll_page_up  = "ctrl+p"
toggle_keymode  = "ctrl+l"
delete_line     = "ctrl+u"
delete_word     = "ctrl+w"
cursor_left     = "ctrl+b"
cursor_right    = "ctrl+f"
cursor_to_start = "ctrl+a"
cursor_to_end   = "ctrl+e"
toggle_func_help = "ctrl+x"
candidate_next  = "tab"       # cycle candidates forward
candidate_prev  = "ctrl+p"    # cycle candidates backward (additional key; Shift+Tab always works)
quit            = "ctrl+q"    # exit jid (used when exit_on_enter = false)

[behavior]
exit_on_enter = true   # set to false to prevent accidental exit on Enter

Note: Shift+Tab (\x1b[Z) is a fixed terminal escape sequence and always triggers backward cycling regardless of candidate_prev.

Preventing accidental exit on Enter

By default, pressing Enter exits jid and prints the current result. If you find yourself accidentally exiting, set exit_on_enter = false in config.toml:

[behavior]
exit_on_enter = false

When disabled, Enter only confirms a candidate selection. Use Ctrl+Q (or your configured quit key) to exit.

Supported key strings

ctrl+a … ctrl+z, up, down, left, right, tab, enter, esc, backspace, home, end, pgup, pgdn, delete, f1 … f12

Query History

Queries are saved automatically on Enter. The history file path follows the same OS convention as the config file (e.g. ~/Library/Application Support/jid/history on macOS) unless overridden in config.toml.

JMESPath Support

jid supports JMESPath expressions in addition to the traditional dot-path notation. JMESPath mode is automatically activated when the query contains pipe (|), wildcards ([*]), filter expressions ([?), or function calls.

JMESPath Query Examples

.                          traditional: show root JSON
.users                     traditional: navigate to users field
.users[0].name             traditional: array index + field access

.users[*].name             wildcard projection: extract name from every user
.users[*].address.city     nested wildcard projection
.users[*].<Tab>            show field candidates from array elements

. | keys(@)                pipe: list root object keys
.users | length(@)         pipe: count users array
.users | sort_by(@, &name) pipe: sort users by name field
.users | reverse(@)        pipe: reverse the array

.[1] | to_array(@)[0].id   chained pipe with indexing
. | to_array(@)[0]         wrap root in array and index

.users[*].name | [0]       project names then index

Wildcard Projection + Array Index

After a wildcard projection like .game_indices[*].version, the result is an array. Use [N] to navigate into it — jid automatically rewrites to pipe form internally:

.game_indices[*]           → field candidates: game_index, version
.game_indices[*].version   → shows array of version objects; suggests [
.game_indices[*].version[0]           → first version object {name, url}
.game_indices[*].version[0].name      → first version's name
.game_indices[*].version[0] | keys(@) → keys of first version object
.game_indices[*].version[0] | keys(@) | sort(@)  → sorted keys

Note: In standard JMESPath, [*].field[0] applies [0] to each projected element rather than the projected array, producing []. jid detects this pattern and transparently rewrites it to [*].field | [0] so [0] indexes the array.

Function Candidates

When you type | after a field, jid shows available JMESPath functions filtered by the type of the preceding expression:

Input type	Suggested functions
Array	avg, contains, join, length, map, max, max_by, min, min_by, not_null, reverse, sort, sort_by, sum, to_array, to_string, type
Object	keys, length, merge, not_null, to_array, to_string, type, values
String	contains, ends_with, length, not_null, reverse, starts_with, to_array, to_number, to_string, type
Number	abs, ceil, floor, not_null, to_array, to_string, type

A usage description is shown below the candidate list (toggle with Ctrl+X).

Candidate Key Highlighting

The matching JSON key is highlighted in yellow and the view auto-scrolls to it in two situations:

• While typing — as soon as the query narrows down to a single candidate (e.g. typing .na when only name matches), the corresponding key is highlighted immediately, before pressing Tab.
• While cycling with Tab / Shift+Tab — the key for each selected candidate is highlighted as you cycle through the list.

In both cases, if the key is outside the visible area the JSON view scrolls to bring it into view. Only the key at the correct nesting level is highlighted — nested keys with the same name are ignored.

Function Argument Templates

When a function candidate is confirmed, the arguments are automatically filled in and the cursor is placed at the right position:

Function	Inserted as	Cursor position
contains	contains(@, '')	inside ''
ends_with	ends_with(@, '')	inside ''
starts_with	starts_with(@, '')	inside ''
join	join('', @)	inside '' (separator)
sort_by	sort_by(@, &field)	on field placeholder
max_by	max_by(@, &field)	on field placeholder
map	map(&expr, @)	on expr placeholder

Placeholder text is shown in blue. Typing any character replaces the entire placeholder.

Wildcard Projection Navigation

After a wildcard expression like .game_indices[*], jid shows the field names of the array elements as candidates:

.game_indices[*]           → candidates: game_index, version
.game_indices[*].<Tab>     → same candidates (trailing dot still shows fields)
.game_indices[*].v<Tab>    → filtered: version
.game_indices[*].version   → shows array result; suggests [ for index navigation
.game_indices[*].version[0] → first version object; candidates: name, url

Ctrl+W in JMESPath Mode

Ctrl+W removes one segment at a time from the end of a JMESPath expression:

.[3] | to_array(@)[0].id  →(Ctrl+W)→  .[3] | to_array(@)[0]
.[3] | to_array(@)[0]     →(Ctrl+W)→  .[3] | to_array(@)
.[3] | to_array(@)        →(Ctrl+W)→  .[3] |
.[3] |                    →(Ctrl+W)→  .[3]