A project that productizes the jq-front. jq-front is a simple utility that extends JSON files with file- and node-level inheritance and expression evaluation, making it easier to create reusable and dynamic JSON-based configurations.

This project follows the standard Go project layout.

• Go 1.24.5 or later (see go.mod for the exact version requirement)
• Make (optional, for using the Makefile)

The easiest way to install jqplusplus is using go install:

go install github.com/dakusui/jqplusplus/cmd/jqplusplus@latest && jqplusplus

This will install the jqp++ binary to $GOPATH/bin or $GOBIN (if set). Make sure this directory is in your PATH.

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/dakusui/jqplusplus.git cd jqplusplus

Then build using Make:

make build

This will create the executable as bin/jq++.

Alternatively, build directly with Go:

go build -o bin/jq++ ./cmd/jqplusplus

After building, you can add the bin directory to your PATH, or copy the binary to a directory already in your PATH:

# Option 1: Add bin directory to PATH (add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.) export PATH="$PATH:$(pwd)/bin" # Option 2: Copy to a directory in PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin) sudo cp bin/jq++ /usr/local/bin/

Let's prepare files, name.json and greeting.json, from which you want to create a new JSON by extending them.

$ echo '{"yourname":"Mark"}' > name.json $ cat name.json {"yourname":"Mark"} $ echo '{"greeting":"Hello"}' > greeting.json $ cat greeting.json {"greeting":"Hello"}

Then create a file that extends them.

$ echo '{  "$extends": ["greeting.json", "name.json"],  "sayHello": "eval:string:refexpr(\".greeting\") + \", \" + refexpr(\".yourname\") + \". Today is \" + (now|todate) + \". How are you doing?\""  }' > sayHello.json

Now, let's try jq++.

$ jq++ sayHello.json { "yourname": "Mark", "greeting": "Hello", "sayHello": "Hello, Mark. Today is 2026-03-21T17:57:25Z. How are you doing?" } $

Doesn't it seem useful? Have fun!

• cmd/jqplusplus/main.go: Application entry point
• internal/: Private application and library code
• pkg/: Public libraries (if any)
• go.mod, LICENSE, README.md, Makefile: Project metadata and configuration

To build the main application:

make build

This will create the executable as bin/jq++.

To run the program:

./bin/jq++

Or run directly without building:

make run

• xmllint: On Ubuntu, do sudo apt install libxml2-utils