JQ::Lite — Vision

📜 Overview

JQ::Lite is a jq-inspired JSON processor and Perl module. It simplifies working with JSON while keeping it fast, portable, and accessible.

The overarching goal is to deliver lightweight, open, human- and machine-readable data tooling to any environment around the world.

🌍 1. Meeting worldwide demand for lightweight JSON tooling

JSON powers modern IT—from APIs and observability pipelines to configuration management and AI inputs. Yet many tools remain heavy, locked to specific languages, or unavailable in constrained environments.

JQ::Lite focuses on scenarios that need simplicity:

• Servers, IoT nodes, and edge devices
• Air-gapped data centers and monitoring agents
• Builders who just want to parse, filter, and transform JSON quickly

Designed as a single-file, dependency-light, Perl-native JSON processor, JQ::Lite keeps working even where jq cannot.

💾 2. Creating a common language between people and machines

The data world runs on JSON. APIs, monitoring platforms, and AI agents all speak the same structure.

JQ::Lite amplifies this with:

• JSON-in / JSON-out by default
• Seamless compatibility with UNIX pipelines
• Availability as both a CLI and a Perl module

It becomes connective tissue between systems, languages, humans, and automation—from shell scripts to ChatGPT-powered AIOps workflows.

🐪 3. Revitalizing Perl as a universal data utility language

Perl was born for text processing. Now it embraces structured data.

JQ::Lite embodies a modern Perl renaissance built on:

• Balancing simplicity with expressiveness
• Fusing portability with power
• Designing for “runs anywhere” from the start

By combining classic Perl strengths with JSON-native design, JQ::Lite reaffirms Perl at the heart of the command line.

🌐 4. Accelerating open-data workflows

Data processing is increasingly locked into proprietary ecosystems and cloud-only APIs. JQ::Lite breaks down those walls.

• 100% open source with zero vendor lock-in
• Operational even offline or on restricted networks
• No cloud dependencies or complex installers required

Whether it is observability data, API responses, or AI telemetry, JQ::Lite enables open, portable, reproducible pipelines.

⚡ 5. Preparing for the text-driven automation era

The era of Infrastructure as Text and Telemetry as JSON is here, with humans and machines analyzing structured data side-by-side.

JQ::Lite is ready for it with:

• Data transformations that are easy to track in Git
• Effortless hand-offs to automation bots and LLMs
• Simplified “extract → transform → decide” workflows

With JQ::Lite, JSON becomes readable, versionable, and automation-friendly, forming the backbone of AI-assisted operations.

🚀 6. Growing alongside the Perl ecosystem

JQ::Lite is a core part of a growing ecosystem rather than a standalone tool.

In tandem with modules like Sys::Monitor::Lite, it enables streamlined flows such as:

Sys::Monitor::Lite  →  JSON metrics
      ↓
jq-lite              →  filter / aggregate / transform
      ↓
Bot / Script / CLI   →  notify / execute / visualize

This makes it possible to build an end-to-end monitoring and automation stack in Perl—transparent and free of external dependencies.

✨ Snapshot of global impact

📝 Conclusion

JQ::Lite is more than a command-line JSON tool. It embodies an open, simple, and universal philosophy that liberates data from silos and empowers both humans and machines.

We hope this project sparks a lightweight, open, Perl-powered data culture around the globe.