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querying-json

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Use when querying JSON files, filtering or transforming JSON data, or extracting specific fields from large JSON files without loading entire file contents (saves 80-95% context)

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/SebastienDegodez/copilot-instructions/blob/HEAD/plugins/minimal-context-tools/skills/querying-json/SKILL.md

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jq: JSON Data Extraction Tool

Always invoke querying-json skill to extract JSON fields - do not execute bash commands directly.

Use jq to extract specific fields from JSON files without loading entire file contents into context.

When to Use jq vs Read

Use jq when:

  • Need specific field(s) from structured data file
  • File is large (>50 lines) and only need subset
  • Querying nested structures
  • Filtering/transforming data
  • Saves 80-95% context vs reading entire file

Just use Read when:

  • File is small (<50 lines)
  • Need to understand overall structure
  • Making edits (need full context anyway)

Common File Types

JSON files where jq excels:

  • package.json, tsconfig.json
  • Lock files (package-lock.json, yarn.lock in JSON format)
  • API responses
  • Configuration files

Default Strategy

Invoke querying-json skill for extracting specific fields from JSON files efficiently. Use instead of reading entire files to save 80-95% context.

Common workflow: finding-files skill → querying-json skill → other skills (fuzzy-selecting, replacing-text, viewing-files) for extraction and transformation.

Quick Examples

# Get version from package.json
jq -r .version package.json

# Get nested dependency version
jq -r '.dependencies.react' package.json

# List all dependencies
jq -r '.dependencies | keys[]' package.json

Pipeline Combinations

  • querying-json | fuzzy-selecting: Interactive selection from JSON data
  • querying-json | replacing-text: Transform JSON to other formats
  • querying-json | viewing-files: View extracted JSON with syntax highlighting

Skill Combinations

For Discovery Phase

  • finding-files → querying-json: Find JSON config files and extract specific fields
  • searching-text → querying-json: Find JSON usage patterns and extract values
  • extracting-code-structure → querying-json: Understand API structures before extraction

For Analysis Phase

  • querying-json → fuzzy-selecting: Interactive selection from structured data
  • querying-json → viewing-files: View extracted data with syntax highlighting
  • querying-json → analyzing-code: Extract statistics from JSON output

For Refactoring Phase

  • querying-json → replacing-text: Transform JSON data to other formats
  • querying-json → querying-yaml: Convert JSON to YAML for different tools
  • querying-json → xargs: Use extracted values as command arguments

Multi-Skill Workflows

  • querying-json → querying-yaml → replacing-text → viewing-files: JSON to YAML transformation with preview
  • querying-json → fuzzy-selecting → xargs: Interactive selection and execution based on JSON data
  • finding-files → querying-json → searching-text: Find config files, extract values, search usage

Common Integration Examples

# Extract and select dependencies
jq -r '.dependencies | keys[]' package.json | fzf --multi | xargs npm info

# Get and filter package versions
jq -r '.devDependencies | to_entries[] | "\(.key)@\(.value)"' package.json | fzf

Note: Choosing Between jq and yq

  • JSON files (package.json, tsconfig.json): Use jq
  • YAML files (docker-compose.yml, GitHub Actions): Use yq

Detailed Reference

For comprehensive jq patterns, syntax, and examples, load jq guide when needing:

  • Array manipulation and filtering
  • Complex nested data extraction
  • Data transformation patterns
  • Real-world workflow examples
  • Error handling and edge cases
  • Core patterns (80% of use cases)
  • Real-world workflows
  • Advanced patterns
  • Pipe composition
  • Error handling
  • Integration with other tools