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Show HN: JSON Query

(jsonquerylang.org)
147 points wofo | 4 comments | 27 Oct 25 16:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.435s | source

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?

1. gcr ◴[27 Oct 25 21:19 UTC] No.45726431[source]▶
I read the man page of `jq` and learned how to use it. It's quite well-written and contains a good introduction.

I've observed that too many users of jq aren't willing to take a few minutes to understand how stream programming works. That investment pays off in spades.

replies(3): >>45727081 #>>45728646 #>>45729949 #
2. wpm ◴[27 Oct 25 22:29 UTC] No.45727081[source]▶
Also, LLMs are good at spitting out filters, but you can learn what they do by going and then looking up what it’s doing in the docs. They often apply things in far more interesting and complex ways than the docs at jqlang.org do, which are often far too “foo bar baz” tier to truly understand explain the power of things.
3. MrApathy ◴[28 Oct 25 02:25 UTC] No.45728646[source]▶
Plugging a previous personal project for learning jq interactively: https://jqjake.com/
4. penguin_booze ◴[28 Oct 25 07:15 UTC] No.45729949[source]▶
I'm a big fan of jq but won't credit its man page with much. There were (ineffable) insights that I picked up through my own usage over time, that I couldn't glean from reading the man page alone. In other words, it's not doing its best to put the correct mental model out for a newish user.