TL;DR — Quick Summary
jaq is a faster, more correct jq clone written in Rust. Process JSON with familiar jq syntax but better error messages, stricter parsing, and 10-30x faster execution.
jaq processes JSON faster. Same jq syntax, better errors, Rust speed.
Installation
# macOS
brew install jaq
# Cargo
cargo install jaq
Usage
# Basic field access
jaq '.name' data.json
# Array iteration
jaq '.users[] | .email' data.json
# Pipe from API
curl -s https://api.example.com | jaq '.results[0]'
# Select with condition
jaq '[.[] | select(.age > 30)]' people.json
# Construct objects
jaq '{name: .name, count: (.items | length)}' data.json
Summary
- jaq is a faster jq clone written in Rust
- 10-30x faster on large JSON datasets
- Better error messages and stricter parsing
- Compatible with most jq filter syntax
- Drop-in replacement for common use cases