Navigate through complex json files by interactively building up a jq filter.

tjex example.json

If no file is given, tjex will try to read json from stdin. You will start out in the table panel. Use the arrow keys to navigate around the table and press <return> to descend into the currently selected cell. The prompt at the bottom will update to show the current path. Use ESC or C-_ to undo prompt changes, i.e. to navigate back up the hierarchy.

M-o switches between the table panel and the jq prompt. The prompt accepts any valid jq filters. Changes are immediately reflected in the table panel. When you are done, exit with C-g.

For a full list of hotkeys, look at the example configuration in ~/.config/tjex/config.toml which is automatically generated upon first invocation of tjex.

• python ≥3.12
• jq ≥1.7
• If atuin is available, the current prompt can be appended to the history with M-<return>.

pipx install git+https://github.com/knapheide/tjex.git

The default location for the configuration file is ~/.config/tjex/config.toml. An example configuration is automatically created when tjex is run for the first time.

Key bindings can be customized as illustrated in the example configuration.

Key names are taken from the curses library's keyname function. To find the name of a key, press it in tjex and watch the log output:

# In one terminal:
tjex --logfile=tjex.log []
# In another terminal:
tail -f tjex.log
# Now in the first terminal, press the desired key and look for a line of the form
# DEBUG:tjex:key='...'

• jless is a command-line json viewer that basically displays the indented and syntax-highlighted json file. To get a better overview of the structure, individual objects and arrays can be collapsed or expanded.
• jnv provides an interactive jq prompt together with a jless-style viewer. However, the prompt is not updated when browsing through the viewer.
• fx has an interactive mode with a prompt. This prompt appears to be limited to path expressions and only influences the cursor position in the displayed json file.
• nushell's explore command displays data in a tabular form similar to tjex. It has a :try sub-command that provides a nushell prompt.

• Separate persistent command history for TextEditPanel
• Mini history just for the table view
  • ESC to go one level up / return to the prompt
• Multi-line cells
• Kill ring for TextEditPanel
• Transpose TablePanel (without changing the underlying data)
• Configurable number formatting
  • More precision for small numbers
• Raw view
• Better demo picture / animation in README
• Per-panel dirty flag
• Status message animation (for pending jq process)
• Nix flake
• Plain-text search in table
• Publish to PyPI
• CI
• When applying transformations, try to keep the cursor position
• Improve performance / support larger data sets. The limiting factor should be the call to jq, not the python code.
• --watch option to automatically re-run filter. Probably using watchdog.