jless is a command-line JSON viewer.
Use it as a replacement for whatever combination of less, jq, cat and your editor you currently use for viewing JSON files.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Clean syntax highlighted display of JSON data, omitting quotes around object keys, closing object and array delimiters, and trailing commas.
- Expand and collapse objects and arrays so you can see both the high- and low-level structure of the data.
- A wealth of vim-inspired movement commands for efficiently moving around and viewing data.
- Full regex-based search for finding exactly the data you’re looking for.
- Cross-platform support – runs under Linux and macOS.
Website: github.com/PaulJuliusMartinez/jless
Support:
Developer: Paul Julius Martinez
License: MIT License

jless is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| JSON Tools | |
|---|---|
| jq | Lightweight and flexible JSON processor. It's like sed for JSON |
| fx | JSON viewer with streaming and mouse support |
| jaq | jq clone focused on correctness, speed, and simplicity. |
| gron | Transforms JSON into discrete assignments to make it easier to grep |
| gojq | Pure Go implementation of jq |
| jless | Command-line JSON viewer written in Rust |
| jnv | Navigates JSON offering a viewer and filter editor |
| JSON Editor | View, edit, format, and validate JSON |
| jid | JSON incremental digger by using filtering queries |
| jo | Small utility to create JSON objects |
| faq | Billed as a more flexible jq supporting additional formats |
| jello | Filter JSON and JSON Lines data with Python syntax |
| jq but an interoperable configuration format transcoder | |
| json-tui | JSON terminal UI |
| jiq | Interactive JSON query tool |
| emuto | Small language for manipulating and restructuring JSON and other data |
| svelte-jsoneditor | View, edit, format, transform, and validate JSON |
| qo | Query JSON, CSV, and TSV files using SQL |
| Janice | Desktop app for viewing large JSON files |
| unqery | Query and transform JSON data |
| Twig | Terminal JSON viewer and YAML viewer |
| jtc | Extract, manipulate and transform source JSON |
| pyfx | Python-native TUI JSON viewer |
| kirill | JSON validator |
| jshon | Parses, reads and creates JSON. It's designed to be as usable as possible |
| jsawk | Like awk, but for JSON |
| jqp | TUI playground to experiment with jq |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Alternatives to jq | |
|---|---|
| fx | JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) viewer with streaming and mouse support |
| gojq | Pure Go implementation of jq |
| jello | Filter JSON and JSON Lines data with Python syntax |
| jless | Command-line JSON viewer written in Rust |
| emuto | Small language for manipulating and restructuring JSON and other data files |
| unqery | Query and transform JSON data |
| htmlq | Like jq but for HTML |
| faq | Billed as a more flexible jq supporting additional formats |
| jaq | jq clone focused on correctness, speed, and simplicity |
| Interoperable configuration format transcoder with jq query syntax | |
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