Release v1.9.0 · 35 real workflows agree with yq

yq energy.
zero baggage.

Program YAML with one portable shell script. No package manager. No language runtime. No mystery binary. Just /bin/sh, AWK, and a frankly unreasonable amount of ambition.

  • 1 file
  • 282/282 parser outcomes
  • 35/35 real workflows
config.yml — ysh POSIX

1services:

2  - name: api

3    enabled: true

4  - name: worker

5    enabled: false

6  - name: web

7    enabled: true

$ ysh '.services[] | select(.enabled) | .name' config.yml
api
web
MAP + REDUCE COMMENTS SURVIVE PIPES + SELECT ANCHORS + ALIASES MERGE KEYS TAGS + TYPES EMPTY COLLECTIONS TRANSACTIONAL EDITS

Structure all the way through

It parses before it queries.

YAML.sh parses a proper node graph before evaluating expressions. Mappings, sequences, tags, anchors, aliases, and source lines stay intact from input to output.

01

Read

Portable AWK recognizes mappings, sequences, flow nodes, scalars, tags, anchors, and documents.

02

Resolve

Aliases and merge sources connect through node identity, with precedence and recursion validation.

03

Program

Paths, reducers, assignments, graph metadata, and repository transactions operate on real node references with identity and type intact.

Tiny commands. Serious YAML.

Meet the new CLI.

Compose files without inviting another runtime.

$ ysh ea 'select(fileIndex == 0) * select(fileIndex == 1)' defaults.yml production.yml
{"replicas":3,"region":"west"}

01 / PORTABLE

Built for the machines between machines.

Bootstrap containers, CI runners, old Macs, tiny servers, and recovery shells. If the system has /bin/sh and AWK, YAML.sh is ready.

macOS AWKmawk + original AWKBusyBox + POSIX gawk

02 / PRECISE

Keys stay keys.

Use .["key.with.dots"] when punctuation belongs to the YAML—not the query.

03 / HONEST

A tested subset.

Full pinned outcomes, strict rejection, generated properties, and explicit limits—without claiming that one corpus is the whole language.

Read the support contract

04 / HACKABLE

One file. Open book.

The shipped executable contains the complete shell launcher and AWK engine. Read it, copy it, bend it.

05 / OBSERVABLE

Repository edits explain themselves.

Multi-file changes preflight together and roll back commit failures. --explain=json records paths and presentation decisions without values.

Field note · August 2026

The YAML parser that got out of hand.

An old Bash experiment became a measured, yq-shaped language in one increasingly unreasonable afternoon. This is the story of the parser we replaced, the evidence that kept raising the goal, and what building it with an agent actually felt like.

Read the story

Install the current release

One pipe.
Then go query something.

The installer downloads and checksum-verifies a pinned release, then places ysh in /usr/local/bin. Set YSH_INSTALL_DIR to choose another location.

Terminalv1.9.0
curl -fsSL https://yaml.azohra.com/install | sh

Prefer to inspect first? Read the installer source.