←back to thread

Show HN: JSON Query

(jsonquerylang.org)
147 points wofo | 7 comments | 27 Oct 25 16:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.211s | source | bottom

I'm working on a tool that will probably involve querying JSON documents and I'm asking myself how to expose that functionality to my users.

I like the power of `jq` and the fact that LLMs are proficient at it, but I find it right out impossible to come up with the right `jq` incantations myself. Has anyone here been in a similar situation? Which tool / language did you end up exposing to your users?

Show context
lenkite ◴[27 Oct 25 18:02 UTC] No.45724301[source]▶
There are a ridiculous number of JSON query/path languages. Wish all the authors got together and harmonized on a standard.
replies(5): >>45724358 #>>45724359 #>>45724472 #>>45724791 #>>45724843 #
1. thayne ◴[27 Oct 25 18:18 UTC] No.45724472[source]▶
There is a standard in RFC 9535 (JSONPath)[1]. But as far as I can tell, it isn't very widely used, and it has more limited functionality than some of the alternatives.

[1]: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc9535

replies(3): >>45724586 #>>45724870 #>>45725969 #
2. NewJazz ◴[27 Oct 25 18:27 UTC] No.45724586[source]▶
Postgresql supports jsonpath, right?
replies(1): >>45724708 #
3. Groxx ◴[27 Oct 25 18:39 UTC] No.45724708[source]▶
SQLite might too, though I'm struggling to find anything explicit about the syntax: https://sqlite.org/json1.html#jptr

it might just be a very limited subset?

replies(1): >>45726618 #
4. lelandbatey ◴[27 Oct 25 18:54 UTC] No.45724870[source]▶
Don't forget the also standardized way of referring to a single value in JSON, "JSON Pointer": datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6901
5. phpnode ◴[27 Oct 25 20:35 UTC] No.45725969[source]▶
the issue with JSONPath is that it took 17 years for it to become a properly fleshed-out standard. The original idea came from a 2007 blog post [0], which was then extended and implemented subtly differently dozens of times, with the result that almost every JSON Path implementation out there is incompatible with the others.

[0] https://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/

6. NewJazz ◴[27 Oct 25 21:37 UTC] No.45726618{3}[source]▶
Looks like "JSON Pointer": datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6901
replies(1): >>45734485 #
7. thayne ◴[28 Oct 25 15:53 UTC] No.45734485{4}[source]▶
JSON pointer uses very different syntax. Sqlite looks like it uses something that is very similar to, but not quite compatible with, JSONPath.