A jq playground backed by the actual jq engine, not a JavaScript approximation of it. Paste a document, write a jq program, and get jq's real output and jq's real error messages, entirely in your browser.
Json Web Viewer's Transform modal ships jq 1.8.2, compiled from its own C source to
WebAssembly rather than reimplemented in JavaScript. That distinction is the whole point of a jq
playground: a filter that works against your terminal's jq works here unmodified, and when
a program is wrong, the error you see is jq's own error, not a lookalike tool's guess at one.
jq is offered as a second query language alongside JMESPath, selectable from the dropdown next to the mode buttons inside the Transform modal. The two aren't interchangeable — the built-in no-code wizard only generates JMESPath; if you switch the language to jq, the wizard tells you so and steps aside, and jq programs are typed by hand from there.
The jq engine itself is a separate, lazily-loaded chunk (roughly 930 KB uncompressed, about
350 KB over the wire with gzip) that only downloads the first time you actually run a jq query —
sticking to JMESPath, or never opening Transform, costs nothing extra. And if a jq program runs long —
an unbounded range, an accidental infinite recursion — you can cancel it; cancellation is
backed by actually terminating the worker running it, not a flag the program has to cooperate with,
which is what makes it work even against a query written to never check back in.
Example — this JSON:
{
"orders": [
{ "id": "ord_1", "status": "shipped", "total": 42.5 },
{ "id": "ord_2", "status": "pending", "total": 18.0 },
{ "id": "ord_3", "status": "shipped", "total": 91.25 }
]
}with this jq program:
[.orders[] | select(.status == "shipped") | .total] | addreturns:
133.75
Open this example in the editor →
The link above pre-loads the orders example into Text mode. A share link can't pre-open Transform or
pre-select a language yet, so from there: open Transform (the More ⋯ menu, or a
middle-strip button), switch Language to jq, and paste the query
above.
It's real jq 1.8.2, compiled from its own C source to WebAssembly — not a JavaScript port that
approximates jq's behavior. A program that works in your terminal's jq works here, and
error messages are jq's own.
No. The wizard generates JMESPath only — jq queries are typed by hand. If you select jq as the language, the wizard says so rather than silently building something else.
No. The jq engine is a separate chunk that only downloads the first time you actually run a jq query — if you stick to JMESPath or never open Transform at all, it's never fetched.
You can cancel it. Long-running programs are backed by a real worker termination, not a cooperative flag a runaway loop could ignore — verified against a query written to spin for tens of millions of iterations.
Need a click-to-path helper instead of writing jq by hand? See JSON Path Finder.