jsonseek

JSON/JSONL parsing toolkit, designed for LLMs.

🤖 DeepSeek Harness plugin support

jsonseek ships as a native DeepSeek Harness (dsh) bundle. Once installed, every jsonseek <sub-command> becomes a model-callable tool inside a dsh agent — and jsonseek shows up in Settings → Plugin list alongside the dsh built-ins.

# 1. Install the Python CLI (the dsh plugin shells out to it)
pip install jsonseek
# 2. Install the dsh bundle into the profile you boot with `dsh web`
dsh plugin --profile web add jsonseek-dsh
# 3. Restart dsh — jsonseek-dsh now appears in Plugin list,# and the agent has 14 jsonseek_* tools available.
dsh restart # or your usual restart command

That's the whole install. No source patches to JSONSEEK, no fork — the npm bundle is a separate data-only package that translates each jsonseek_<cmd>({...}) call into the corresponding jsonseek CLI invocation.

After install the dsh agent can do things like:

"Use jsonseek_shape to inspect data.json and jsonseek_query to find every record mentioning 'password'."

The model picks the right tool, your CLI handles the file.

Documentation:

npm/QUICKSTART.md — 30-second install + verification
npm/README.md — full usage, publishing, troubleshooting

💸 Stop paying for tokens you don't read

Loading a JSON file into an LLM context window is expensive. A 10 MB JSON is roughly 2.5M tokens — on Claude Opus that's ~$15 per task for one file.

jsonseek gives you surgical commands so you pay only for what you actually need:

jsonseek shape file.json # skeleton, ~50 tokens
jsonseek fields file.json # keys + types, ~200 tokens
jsonseek query file.json 'X'# search content, ~100 tokens
jsonseek get file.json path # fetch one value, ~50 tokens

10 MB → 5 KB. Same answer, 1000× cheaper.

When LLMs touch JSON, they should shape first, query second, never cat the whole file. When humans touch JSON, the same rules apply — just with a keyboard instead of a context window.

三条记录被咬坏。shape 一次全部找出来，replaceline 只改第 18372 行，其余 49,997 行逐字未变。上面的输出是真跑出来的，不是排版出来的。

🐛 Tells you exactly which line is broken

When something's wrong, jsonseek reports the exact line and the parser's own message — so the LLM (or you) can fix it in one shot instead of guessing:

$ jsonseek shape broken.jsonl
Error: Found 2 invalid lines in broken.jsonl:
Line 2: {"id": 2, "name": "unterminated
Error: Unterminated string starting at
Line 4: {"id": 4,,}
Error: Expecting property name enclosed in double quotes

$ jsonseek shape broken.json
Error: Invalid JSON at line 4 in broken.json
Line 4: "c": 3
Expecting ',' delimiter

JSONL reports every bad line. JSON reports only the first. Each JSONL record is independent; a JSON document is not — once it's broken, only the first error is recoverable.

Then fix in place:

jsonseek replaceline broken.jsonl 2 '{"id": 2, "name": "fixed"}'
jsonseek replaceline broken.jsonl 4 '{"id": 4, "name": "fixed"}'

jsonseek is an LLM-friendly parser and partial editor for large JSON / JSONL files. The core principle: never let an LLM cat an entire JSON file into context. Run shape for the skeleton, query / get for precise lookup, then set / add / del / append for the smallest possible edit.

Supports structural understanding, field summaries, partial queries, partial edits, bug localization and repair — for both JSON and JSONL with one command set.

🤖 Skills for LLM Coding Agents (Claude / Kimi / Cursor / Codex, etc.)

Tell your agent "use jsonseek" and it just works. Skills live below — read on demand.

Skill	Link	Use
SKILL.md	👉 View on GitHub	Agent startup: triggers, command cheatsheet, the three iron rules for writes, Windows API fallback
commands.md	👉 View on GitHub	On demand: every flag / example / output format
path-syntax.md	👉 View on GitHub	On demand: full path syntax (dot / bracket / mixed / array / escape)

Skills on GitHub: lo2589/jsonseek/skills/jsonseek/

Plug into an agent (Claude Code / Cursor / Codex / etc.):

git clone https://github.com/lo2589/JSONSEEK.git
ln -s ../jsonseek/skills/jsonseek/SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/jsonseek.md
# or ~/.cursor/skills/ ~/.codex/skills/

Why JSON Deserves a Dedicated Tool

JSON is the de facto standard for modern data exchange. From ML experiment logs, API configs, application log streams, to microservice registries and crawler dumps — JSON / JSONL is everywhere:

ML experiment tracking: training parameters, metric curves, and model configs all live as JSON. A single experiment directory can easily reach tens of MB.
API / microservice configs: service discovery, routing rules, environment variables — often managed as JSON configs.
Logs & event streams: structured logs (JSONL) are easier to query than plain text, but file size grows fast.
Data exchange: frontend-backend communication, inter-service RPC, crawler dumps — JSON is the most common format.

The problem: the bigger the JSON, the more expensive it is to process.cat-ing a 10MB JSON into LLM context burns millions of tokens. Even human developers suffer scanning thousands of nested lines.

jsonseek solves this — replace full reads with partial operations, replace manual scanning with structured queries. For LLM coding agents and developers handling JSON / JSONL frequently, this is essential tooling.

Why LLMs Should Use jsonseek

When you (or your running Claude / Kimi / Cursor / Codex agent) face a 10MB JSON, full cat into context is catastrophic token waste. jsonseek lets the agent:

Understand structure first — shape for the skeleton, fields for the field list, without reading content
Locate targets next — query to search keywords, ls to browse a layer, get for a precise value
Edit partially last — set / add / del / append only where needed

Token savings estimate

File size	Operation	Full read	`jsonseek` output	Savings
100KB config JSON	`shape`	~25K tokens	~100 tokens	99%+
100KB config JSON	`fields`	~25K tokens	~300 tokens	98%+
100KB config JSON	`get` single value	~25K tokens	~10 tokens	99%+
100KB config JSON	`query` hit a few	~25K tokens	~100 tokens	99%+
10MB log JSONL	`shape` sampled	~2.5M tokens	~200 tokens	99.9%+
10MB log JSONL	`query` hit dozens	~2.5M tokens	~1K tokens	99.9%+

Rough estimate: 1 token ≈ 4 bytes of English. Actual ratios vary by content and tokenizer, but the order of magnitude is stable — the bigger the file, the bigger the savings.

Typical agent workflow

# 1. Read the skeleton — no content needed
jsonseek shape data.jsonl
# 2. See the field list
jsonseek fields data.jsonl --top
# 3. Search a keyword
jsonseek query data.jsonl password --record-id-field id --max-results 5
# 4. Read a specific value
jsonseek get data.jsonl '[3].password'# 5. Modify (**always start with --dry-run**)
jsonseek set data.jsonl '[3].password''newpass' --dry-run
jsonseek set data.jsonl '[3].password''newpass' --backup

📦 Installation

pip install jsonseek

Requires Python 3.8+. Zero dependencies, zero configuration — install and run.

$ jsonseek --version
jsonseek <current_version>

Command reference

Read / inspect (safe, read-only)

Command	Purpose
`shape FILE`	Display structure / skeleton tree
`fields FILE [keyword]`	List all fields and types
`ls FILE [path]`	List children at a path
`get FILE path`	Get a value at a path
`query FILE keyword`	Search keys or values
`extract PATTERN path`	Batch-extract the same path from many JSON files
`concat PATTERN`	Merge multiple JSON files into JSONL

Write / partial edits (modifies files)

Command	Purpose
`set FILE path value`	Modify a field
`add FILE path value`	Add a new key
`del FILE path`	Delete a key or array element
`append FILE path value`	Append one item to an array
`extend FILE path json_array`	Extend an array from a JSON array
`cutline FILE N`	Extract a specific JSONL line to a temp file
`replaceline FILE N`	Replace a specific JSONL line

Common flags

Flag	Purpose
`--output json`	Machine-readable output (required when piping to another tool / agent)
`--backup`	Create a `.bak` backup before any write
`--dry-run`	Always use this before any write to preview
`--kind {json,jsonl}`	Force file type (auto-detected by default)
`--encoding ENCODING`	Force encoding (auto-detected by default; e.g. `gbk`)
`--context N`	Lines of context around the target (JSONL only, default `2`)

Path syntax

Style	Example	Meaning
Dot	`a.b.c`	`a -> b -> c`
Bracket	`a[key1][key2]`	`a -> key1 -> key2`
Mixed	`a[key1].b[0]`	`a -> key1 -> b -> 0`
Array index	`items[0][1]`	`items -> 0 -> 1`

⚠️ zsh users: paths containing [N] must be wrapped in single quotes (or use noglob), because zsh tries to glob-expand brackets:
# ❌ zsh: "no matches found"
jsonseek del file.json services[0].deprecated
# ✅ either of these works
jsonseek del file.json 'services[0].deprecated'
noglob jsonseek del file.json services[0].deprecated
bash / fish / zsh-with-quotes all work fine.

The three iron rules (for LLMs and humans)

Before any write, always --dry-run first:

jsonseek set file.json path value --dry-run
# [DRY-RUN] Before: path = old# [DRY-RUN] After: path = new

Before any write, always add --backup:

jsonseek set file.json path value --backup
# → creates file.json.bak

When piping to another tool, always add --output json:

jsonseek query file.json keyword --output json | jq '.hits[0]'

Designed for AI / Coding Agents

jsonseek's design philosophy is the LLM's token budget:

Output as short as possible: by default only the filtered essentials, never the whole structure
Stable output format: every command supports --output json, agents parse directly
Writes are previewable: every set / add / del has --dry-run, agents preview the diff before invoking
Streaming: jsonseek shape on a 10MB JSONL only reads the first 100 lines (--sample-size adjustable), token usage is bounded

Typical agent workflow:

read → shape / fields / ls / query / get
↓ (understand structure)
locate → query / get
↓ (find target)
write → set / add / del / append (--dry-run first → --backup for real)
↓ (verify)
read → query / get

Cross-platform

macOS / Linux: native CLI works flawlessly
Windows PowerShell: read commands (shape / fields / get / query / ls / extract / concat) work fine via CLI. Write commands strip double quotes through PowerShell, so complex values fail — use the Python API instead

Windows write Python API:

importsyssys.path.insert(0, '.')
fromjsonseek.commands.set_cmdimportset_valuefromjsonseek.commands.add_cmdimportadd_valuefromjsonseek.commands.append_cmdimportappend_valuefromjsonseek.commands.extend_cmdimportextend_valuefromjsonseek.commands.del_cmdimportdel_valuefromjsonseek.commands.replaceline_cmdimportreplace_line# Set/Add/Append/Extend complex values — no shell quoting issuesset_value('file.json', 'path', {"key": "value"})
add_value('file.json', 'path', ["item1", "item2"])
append_value('file.json', 'items', {"id": 1})
extend_value('file.json', 'items', [{"id": 2}, {"id": 3}])
# Deletedel_value('file.json', 'path')
# JSONL whole-line replacementreplace_line('file.jsonl', 5, '{"id": 5, "name": "fixed"}')

CLI write commands print a patch preview on success and Error: ... on failure. Python API write helpers are silent on success and raise on failure.

🐛 Bug diagnostics: locate, then fix (NEVER `cat` a JSON file)

jsonseek is built for the "find the bad record, fix it, move on" workflow. When an LLM (or a human) sees a parse error, the wrong shape, a missing field, or a broken value — the right move is NOT to dump the whole file. Use the diagnostic ladder:

The diagnostic ladder (use in this order)

Step	Command	What it tells you	When to use it
1	`jsonseek shape file.json`	High-level skeleton — array? object? nested?	You have no idea what's in the file
2	`jsonseek fields file.json`	Every key, every type, occurrence count	You suspect a field is wrong or missing
3	`jsonseek fields file.json 'keyword'`	Fields whose path matches the keyword	You know roughly where to look
4	`jsonseek query file.json 'pattern'`	Records/values whose content matches	You're hunting a specific value
5	`jsonseek get file.json 'path'`	The exact value at a path	You know the path, want the value
6	`jsonseek ls file.json 'path'`	Children of a path (object keys / array indices)	You have a path, want to drill in

Workflow A — "JSON won't parse, where's the broken record?"

For JSONL files (one record per line), the fastest way is usually:

# Find the offending line with a Python one-liner
python3 -c "import jsonfor i, line in enumerate(open('broken.jsonl'), 1): try: json.loads(line) except Exception as e: print(f'line {i}: {e} — {line[:80]!r}')"# Then fix it
jsonseek replace_line broken.jsonl <line_number>'{"id": ..., "fixed": true}'

For JSON files (single document), shape will fail with a parser error pointing at the byte offset:

$ jsonseek shape broken.json
Error: <tool name>: Expecting value at line 42 column 7 (char 1823)
# That `char 1823` is your offset — open the file at byte 1823 to inspect.

Workflow B — "wrong field, wrong type, where?"

# Step 1: see the skeleton
jsonseek shape data.json
# Step 2: list all fields + types + occurrence counts
jsonseek fields data.json
# id : int (100%)# name : str (100%)# email : str (87%) <-- only 87%! 13% missing# tags : array (60%)# score : float (40%) <-- type inconsistent? check

# Step 3: drill into the suspicious field
jsonseek query data.json 'email == null'
jsonseek get data.json '$.records[5].email'

# Step 4: fix the smallest possible patch
jsonseek set data.json '$.records[5].email''"fixed@example.com"' --backup

Workflow C — "I see the bug, just fix one line"

For JSONL with one record per line:

# Re-read the bad line first (avoid guessing)
jsonseek get broken.jsonl <line_number># Replace it
jsonseek replace_line broken.jsonl <line_number>'{"id": 42, "name": "corrected"}'

Why this matters

Never cat the whole file. A 10 MB JSON is 2.5M tokens — your context window is gone.
Always shape first. You can't fix what you can't see.
Always query or get before set. Confirm the location, then patch.
Use --backup on every write. Default is to write a .bak next to the file.

The diagnostic rule (memorize this)

Shape → Fields → Query → Get → Fix. Skip a step only if you already know the answer.

Complete command reference

Every command's full signature, every flag, and every output format. For the most up-to-date list, run jsonseek <command> --help.

Read-only commands

`shape FILE`

Show structure / skeleton tree.

--kind {json,jsonl} Force file kind (auto-detected by default)
--output {pretty,json} Output format (default: pretty)
--encoding ENCODING Force encoding (auto-detected by default)
--max-depth N Limit traversal depth (default: unlimited)
--array-mode {sample,full} JSONL array mode; `sample` is default, `full` walks every element
--sample-size N JSONL: number of records to sample (default: 100)

`fields FILE [keyword]`

List all fields with type / occurrence count.

--top Show only top-level fields
--kind / --output / --encoding (same as above)

`ls FILE [path]`

List children at a path. JSONL: path must start with [N] or records[N].

--kind / --output / --encoding (same as above)

`get FILE path`

Read a value at a path. Output respects --output.

--kind / --output / --encoding (same as above)

`query FILE term`

Search keys or values.

--case-sensitive Case-sensitive matching (default: insensitive)
--exact Exact match (default: substring)
--match-mode {key,value,both} What to match (default: both)
--max-results N Limit number of results
--record-id-field FIELD JSONL: use FIELD as record ID in output
--preview-field FIELD JSONL: also show FIELD as preview
--kind / --output / --encoding / --context N (same as above)

`extract PATTERN path`

Batch-extract the same path from many JSON files matched by a glob pattern.

--include-missing Include files where the path does not exist (default: skip)
--output {pretty,json} Output format (default: pretty)

`concat PATTERN`

Concatenate multiple JSON files into a single JSONL.

-o, --output-file FILE Output file (default: stdout)
--no-sort Preserve glob order (default: sort by filename)

Write commands (always `--backup` first)

`set FILE path value`

Modify an existing value at a path.

--create-missing Auto-create intermediate paths (default: error if missing)
--from-file FILE Read the new value from a file (avoids shell quoting issues)
--backup Create FILE.bak before writing
--dry-run Preview only, no changes

`add FILE path value`

Add a new key to an object. Errors if the key already exists.

--create-missing Auto-create intermediate paths
--from-file FILE Read the value from a file
--backup / --dry-run Same as above

`del FILE path`

Delete a key or an array element.

-y, --yes Skip the confirmation prompt
--backup / --dry-run Same as above

`append FILE path value`

JSON: append one item to an array. Path must end at an array. JSONL: append a record at root level (no path needed).

--from-file FILE Read the value from a file
--backup / --dry-run Same as above

`extend FILE path json_array`

Extend an array with all items from a JSON array (unpacked).

--from-file FILE Read the array from a file
--backup / --dry-run Same as above

`cutline FILE LINE`

Extract a specific JSONL line (1-indexed) to a temp file. Used to repair corrupt lines.

--save-temp Save to a temp file and print the path; otherwise print to stdout

`replaceline FILE LINE [CONTENT]`

Replace a specific JSONL line. Use --from-file to avoid quoting issues.

--from-file FILE Read the replacement content from a file

Universal flags (every command)

--kind {json,jsonl} Force file kind (auto-detected by default)
--output {pretty,json} pretty (default) is human-readable; json is for agent / pipe consumption
--encoding ENCODING Force encoding (auto-detected; e.g. `gbk`, `utf-8`)
--backup Create FILE.bak before any write
--dry-run Preview the change without writing
--context N JSONL: lines of context around the target (default: 2)

Always use --dry-run first. Then add --backup for the real run.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Generic error (invalid path, missing file, write error, etc.)
2	Invalid CLI arguments

Environment variables

Var	Effect
`PYTHONIOENCODING`	Force stdout encoding (helps with Chinese output on Windows)

Command reference docs

Doc	Content
commands.md	Every command's flags, parameters, examples
path-syntax.md	Full path syntax — dot / bracket / mixed / array indices / negative indices / escapes

Skills links are also given earlier in the "🤖 Skills for LLM Coding Agents" section.

🔗 Links

Resource	Link
PyPI	https://pypi.org/project/jsonseek/
GitHub	https://github.com/lo2589/JSONSEEK
Issues	https://github.com/lo2589/JSONSEEK/issues

Other languages

English — README_EN.md
中文 — README.md (default, also serves as the Chinese edition)
中文 (简洁版) — README_ZH.md

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
demo		demo
npm		npm
scripts		scripts
skills/jsonseek		skills/jsonseek
src/jsonseek		src/jsonseek
tests		tests
.codedendrite_ignore		.codedendrite_ignore
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
MANIFEST.in		MANIFEST.in
README.md		README.md
README_EN.md		README_EN.md
README_OLD_ZH_backup.md		README_OLD_ZH_backup.md
README_ZH.md		README_ZH.md
cordis.patch.yml		cordis.patch.yml
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
setup.py		setup.py

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jsonseek

🤖 DeepSeek Harness plugin support

💸 Stop paying for tokens you don't read

🐛 Tells you exactly which line is broken

🤖 Skills for LLM Coding Agents (Claude / Kimi / Cursor / Codex, etc.)

Why JSON Deserves a Dedicated Tool

Why LLMs Should Use jsonseek

Token savings estimate

Typical agent workflow

📦 Installation

Command reference

Read / inspect (safe, read-only)

Write / partial edits (modifies files)

Common flags

Path syntax

The three iron rules (for LLMs and humans)

Designed for AI / Coding Agents

Cross-platform

🐛 Bug diagnostics: locate, then fix (NEVER cat a JSON file)

The diagnostic ladder (use in this order)

Workflow A — "JSON won't parse, where's the broken record?"

Workflow B — "wrong field, wrong type, where?"

Workflow C — "I see the bug, just fix one line"

Why this matters

The diagnostic rule (memorize this)

Complete command reference

Read-only commands

shape FILE

fields FILE [keyword]

ls FILE [path]

get FILE path

query FILE term

extract PATTERN path

concat PATTERN

Write commands (always --backup first)

set FILE path value

add FILE path value

del FILE path

append FILE path value

extend FILE path json_array

cutline FILE LINE

replaceline FILE LINE [CONTENT]

Universal flags (every command)

Exit codes

Environment variables

Command reference docs

🔗 Links

Other languages

License

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