JSON Tools

A toolkit for working with JSON data using Python standard library only.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when the user needs to:

•Validate JSON syntax
•Format/pretty-print JSON
•Query JSON with path expressions
•Compare two JSON files
•Transform JSON data

Available Scripts

Always run scripts with --help first to see all available options.

Script	Purpose
`validate_json.py`	Check if JSON is valid
`format_json.py`	Pretty-print or minify JSON
`query_json.py`	Extract data using path expressions
`diff_json.py`	Compare two JSON files

Decision Tree

code

Task → What do you need?
    │
    ├─ Check if JSON is valid?
    │   └─ Use: validate_json.py <file>
    │
    ├─ Format/beautify JSON?
    │   └─ Use: format_json.py <file>
    │
    ├─ Extract specific data?
    │   └─ Use: query_json.py <file> <path>
    │
    └─ Compare two JSON files?
        └─ Use: diff_json.py <file1> <file2>

Quick Examples

Validate JSON:

bash

python scripts/validate_json.py data.json
echo '{"key": "value"}' | python scripts/validate_json.py -

Format JSON:

bash

python scripts/format_json.py data.json
python scripts/format_json.py data.json --indent 4
python scripts/format_json.py data.json --minify

Query JSON:

bash

python scripts/query_json.py data.json "users"
python scripts/query_json.py data.json "users.0.name"
python scripts/query_json.py data.json "config.database.host"

Compare JSON:

bash

python scripts/diff_json.py old.json new.json
python scripts/diff_json.py config1.json config2.json --keys-only

Path Expression Syntax

The query_json.py script uses dot-notation paths:

Path	Description
`key`	Access object key
`0`, `1`, `2`	Access array index
`key.subkey`	Nested access
`items.0.name`	Mixed access
`.` or empty	Root element

Examples

Given JSON:

json

{
  "users": [
    {"name": "Alice", "age": 30},
    {"name": "Bob", "age": 25}
  ],
  "config": {
    "debug": true
  }
}

Path	Result
`users`	The users array
`users.0`	First user object
`users.0.name`	`"Alice"`
`users.1.age`	`25`
`config.debug`	`true`

Input Sources

All scripts accept input from:

•File: script.py data.json
•Stdin: echo '{}' | script.py -
•String: script.py --string '{"key": "value"}'

Common Use Cases

•Validate API response: validate_json.py response.json
•Pretty-print minified JSON: format_json.py api_response.json
•Extract config value: query_json.py config.json "database.host"
•Find config differences: diff_json.py prod.json staging.json

Notes

•All scripts use Python standard library only (no external dependencies)
•Unicode is fully supported
•Large files are handled efficiently
•Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = error/invalid, 2 = differences found (diff)