bash
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/jqlang/jq | jq '.'Notes
A foundational pattern for API inspection.
jq CLI Recipes
Real-world jq commands for APIs, cloud tooling, DevOps output, reporting, logs, and shell scripting.
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cURL and API Recipes
Use jq with HTTP APIs and JSON responses.
Extract one field from API response
Print a single field like a repo name or count.
bashANYjqcurlextract
bash
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/jqlang/jq | jq -r '.full_name'Notes
Use `-r` for plain shell-friendly output.
List names from API array
Extract one field from each array item in an API response.
bashANYjqcurlarrays
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curl -s https://api.github.com/orgs/github/repos?per_page=5 | jq -r '.[].full_name'Notes
Very common for quick reporting from API arrays.
bash
curl -s https://api.github.com/orgs/github/repos?per_page=5 | jq -r '.[] | [.name, .stargazers_count] | @csv'Notes
Excellent for spreadsheet exports and ad hoc reports.
bash
curl -s https://api.github.com/orgs/github/repos?per_page=20 | jq '.[] | select(.language == "Go") | {name, language}'Notes
A good example of combining `select()` with object projection.
AWS, kubectl, and Docker
Use jq with common DevOps tools that emit JSON.
bash
aws ec2 describe-instances | jq -r '.Reservations[].Instances[].InstanceId'Notes
This pattern appears constantly in shell automation.
bash
aws ec2 describe-instances | jq '.Reservations[].Instances[] | select(.State.Name == "running") | {id: .InstanceId, type: .InstanceType}'Notes
Great for lightweight audits without crafting a JMESPath query.
bash
kubectl get pods -o json | jq -r '.items[].metadata.name'Notes
Perfect for loops and quick visibility.
bash
kubectl get pods -o json | jq '.items[] | select(.status.phase == "Running") | .metadata.name'Notes
Useful for triage and operational scripts.
bash
docker inspect my-container | jq -r '.[0].NetworkSettings.IPAddress'Notes
A classic jq + Docker recipe.
List Terraform state resources
Extract resource addresses from Terraform state JSON.
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terraform show -json | jq -r '.values.root_module.resources[].address'Notes
Excellent for inventorying state contents.
Logs and Reporting
Analyze logs and create shell-friendly reports.
bash
cat app.log | jq -r '.level'Notes
Works when each log line is a JSON object.
bash
cat app.log | jq 'select(.level == "error")'Notes
Simple and effective for local debugging.
bash
cat app.log | jq -s 'group_by(.level) | map({level: .[0].level, count: length})'Notes
Useful for operational summaries and postmortems.
bash
cat app.log | jq -r '[.timestamp, .level, .message] | @tsv'Notes
Great for quick grep-friendly tabular output.
bash
echo '[{"name":"alice","score":90},{"name":"bob","score":85}]' | jq -r '.[] | "| (.name) | (.score) |"'Notes
Handy for docs, PR comments, and status reports.
bash
APP_NAME=cheatsheet ENV=prod jq -n --arg app "$APP_NAME" --arg env "$ENV" '{app: $app, env: $env}'Notes
A strong pattern for shell scripting and automation.
Arguments and Shell Integration
Pass values from the shell safely into jq.
bash
name=alice; jq -n --arg name "$name" '{name: $name}'Notes
Use `--arg` for shell strings.
bash
count=42; jq -n --argjson count "$count" '{count: $count}'Notes
Use `--argjson` when the value should remain JSON, not a string.
Read another JSON file into variable
Load a JSON file into jq as an array of documents.
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jq --slurpfile cfg config.json '.items[] | {name, config: $cfg[0]}' data.jsonNotes
Useful for joins between documents or config-driven transforms.
bash
jq --argfile cfg config.json '{config: $cfg, data: .}' data.jsonNotes
Use when you need a single parsed JSON document as context.
bash
echo '{"healthy":true}' | jq -e '.healthy' > /dev/nullNotes
`-e` is excellent for shell conditions and CI checks.
More in jq
jq Filters and Transformations
Advanced jq patterns for regex, booleans, dates, math, recursive descent, filtering, and output shaping.
jq Arrays and Objects
Deep reference for jq arrays, objects, grouping, entries, path updates, reshaping, and structural manipulation.
jq Cheat Sheet
Core jq syntax, filters, selectors, arrays, objects, variables, sorting, grouping, formatting, and shell-friendly usage.