# yq

> MIT portable YAML/JSON/XML/CSV/TOML processor (Go)

**Category:** DevOps  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/mikefarah/yq  
**Added:** 2026-09-11

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## The Hook

yq is jq-shaped filtering for YAML (and friends) when JSON-only jq is the wrong pipe.

## What's Good

MIT. mikefarah/yq — portable Go binary. jq-like syntax across YAML, JSON, XML, CSV/TSV, TOML, properties, and more. In-place edit, merge, and convert paths. Docs at mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq; source github.com/mikefarah/yq.

## The Catch

mikefarah/yq ≠ kislyuk/yq — this entry is the Go binary (`mikefarah/yq`), not the Python wrapper around jq. Vs jq (JSON-only filter language): yq is multi-format structured data, not a jq dialect clone of every filter. Feature parity with jq is incomplete on purpose; learn the Go yq docs.

## Verdict

MIT multi-format jq cousin. Free forever; use mikefarah/yq when the file is YAML (or XML/CSV/TOML), not only JSON.