JSONNET(1)

💖 JSONNET(1) 💖

okay bestie, we're doing the Jsonnet manual page and honestly? it's giving data-templating royalty 👑

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✨ NAME ✨

Jsonnet — the Jsonnet data templating language interpreter, and yes she's that girl 🌸

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So. This is the Jsonnet commandline interpreter v0.22.0 ✨ and here's how you summon her:

jsonnet {<option>} <filename>

That's it. That's the whole vibe check. Now let's get into the options because there are a LOT and we are going to list every single one, periodt 💅

🌈 Available options:

• -h / --help — literally just shows you this message, the "hey bestie here's what I can do" of it all 💁‍♀️
• -e / --exec — treats <filename> as code instead of a file. no cap.
• -J / --jpath <dir> — adds an extra library search dir. the right-most wins, so keep that in mind iykyk 👑
• -o / --output-file <file> — writes to the output file instead of stdout. taking the scenic route instead of the terminal route, obsessed 💖
• -m / --multi <dir> — writes multiple files into the directory, and lists the files on stdout. multitasking queen 🎀
• -y / --yaml-stream — writes output as a YAML stream of JSON documents. so fancy ✨
• -S / --string — expects a string and manifests it as plain text. keep it simple, keep it cute 🍓
• --no-trailing-newline — do not add a trailing newline to the output. if you know you know 🙈
• -s / --max-stack <n> — number of allowed stack frames. stack overflow protection era 💀
• -t / --max-trace <n> — max length of stack trace before it gets cropped. aesthetic cropping only 💅
• --gc-min-objects <n> — do not run the garbage collector until this many. she waits patiently 🧚
• --gc-growth-trigger <n> — run the garbage collector after this amount of object growth. now she's got main character energy 🔥
• --version — prints the version. flexing time 💜

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🫶 Available options for specifying values of 'external' variables:

Provide the value as a string:

• -V / --ext-str <var>[=<val>] — if <val> is omitted, get it from the environment var <var> 🌸
• --ext-str-file <var>=<file> — read the string from the file. file-based, lowkey elegant 🎀

🧚 Provide a value as Jsonnet code:

• --ext-code <var>[=<code>] — if <code> is omitted, get it from the environment var <var> ✨
• --ext-code-file <var>=<file> — read the code from the file. code, but make it a file 💖

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🎀 Available options for specifying values of 'top-level arguments':

Provide the value as a string:

• -A / --tla-str <var>[=<val>] — if <val> is omitted, get it from the environment var <var> ⭐
• --tla-str-file <var>=<file> — read the string from the file 🦋

🌸 Provide a value as Jsonnet code:

• --tla-code <var>[=<code>] — if <code> is omitted, get it from the environment var <var> 💜
• --tla-code-file <var>=<file> — read the code from the file 🌈

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💅 Environment variables

JSONNET_PATH is a colon-separated list of directories (semicolon on Windows, ok cross-platform queen) added in reverse order before the paths specified by --jpath, which means left-most wins.

For example:

JSONNET_PATH=a:b jsonnet -J c -J d

is equivalent to:

JSONNET_PATH=d:c:a:b jsonnet jsonnet -J b -J a -J c -J d

like… look at her reordering her whole life and still serving 💅

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🔥 In all cases:

• <filename> can be -, which means stdin. iconic behaviour.
• Multichar options get expanded, e.g. -abc becomes -a -b -c. she unpacks it 🎀
• The -- option suppresses option processing for the subsequent arguments.

⚠️ heads up bestie: since filenames and jsonnet programs can begin with -, it is advised to use -- if the argument is unknown, like so: jsonnet -- "$FILENAME". this is the "no babe it's not a flag it's a file" protection spell 🫶

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and that's the page, fr fr 💖 this was Jsonnet commandline interpret…, September 2026, tagged JSONNET(1) — go template something gorgeous, bestie, you got this 👑✨