# jpmens/jo

JSON output from a shell

Repository: https://github.com/jpmens/jo
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/jo
Homepage: http://jpmens.net/2016/03/05/a-shell-command-to-create-json-jo/
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2025-06-20T09:47:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 35/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 27, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3834, "days_push": 439, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4862, forks 159 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:01.555553+00:00)

## What it is
jo is a small C command-line utility that converts shell arguments and stdin into valid JSON objects and arrays. It handles type inference (strings, numbers, booleans, null), nesting, and pretty-printing for use in shell scripts.

## Use cases
- create  from shell variables
- produce valid  in bash scripts
- build  payloads for curl or mqtt from the command line
- convert seq output into a  array
- generate nested  objects in one-liners

## When to choose
- you need to emit JSON from shell scripts without fragile string escaping
- you want a tiny, fast, dependency-free binary available in most package managers
- you need type-aware JSON construction (numbers, booleans, null) from CLI arguments

## When to avoid
- you need to query or transform existing JSON rather than create it (use jq instead)
- you need streaming or very large document processing
- you work primarily in a language with native JSON libraries

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: serialization, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: windows, bsd, cli, cross-platform
- tags: -generation, shell-scripting, unix-utility, command-line, automation, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- jpmens/jo (main) score 35

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:01.555553+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:18:21.674270+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/jpmens/jo (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:01.555553+00:00, sha 6029b3e4d36c)
  - homepage: http://jpmens.net/2016/03/05/a-shell-command-to-create-json-jo/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:00:53.901020+00:00, sha b63a0f7c9323)
  - site_page: https://jpmens.net/pages/about (fetched 2026-08-29T09:00:53.910232+00:00, sha 57ea5877492c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.