JSON

source	condition	target
✔	✔	✔

source

condition

target

✔

Description

The json resource reads and writes a single value in a JSON document, addressed by a Dasel selector.

source: Reads one value out of one file and returns it. Only a single file is accepted (files with more than one entry fails with source only supports one file).
condition: Reads the same value and compares it to value, or to the source output when value is unset. With files, every file must match for the condition to pass.
target: Writes value (or the source output) at the given key. Files already holding that value are reported as up to date and left untouched, so a target that changes nothing does not create a commit.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
engine	string	default: “dasel/v1” is the default engine used to manipulate json files accepted values: “dasel/v1” for dasel v1 engine “dasel/v2” for dasel v2 engine “dasel/v3” for dasel v3 engine “dasel” for the latest dasel engine which is currently dasel v3
file	string	remark: “file” and “files” are mutually exclusive scheme “https://”, “http://”, and “file://” are supported in path for source and condition
files	array	remark: “file” and “files” are mutually exclusive scheme “https://”, “http://”, and “file://” are supported in path for source and condition
key	string	key defines the Jsonpath key to manipulate. compatible: source condition target remark: * key is a simpler version of Jsonpath accepts keys. * key accepts Dasel query, more information on https://github.com/tomwright/dasel key accepts values based on the engine used example: * key: $.name * key: name * file: https://nodejs.org/dist/index.json key: .(lts!=false).version
query	string	query defines the Jsonpath query to manipulate. It accepts advanced Dasel v1 query this parameter is now deprecated in Dasel v2 and replaced by the parameter “key”. compatible: * source * condition * target example: * query: .name * query: “.[].tag_name” remark: query accepts Dasel query, more information on https://github.com/tomwright/dasel
value	string	value defines the Jsonpath key value to manipulate. Default to source output. compatible: condition target default: when used for a condition or a target, the default value is the output of the source.
versionfilter	object
kind	string	specifies the version kind such as semver, regex, or latest
pattern	string	specifies the version pattern according the version kind for semver, it is a semver constraint for regex, it is a regex pattern for time, it is a date format
regex	string	specifies the regex pattern, used for regex/semver and regex/time. Output of the first capture group will be used.
replaceall	object	replaceAll applies a regex replacement to version strings before filtering. This is useful for transforming versions (e.g., curl-8_15_0 to curl-8.15.0) before regex extraction.
strict	boolean	strict enforce strict versioning rule. Only used for semantic versioning at this time

file or files is mandatory, as is key or query; missing either aborts the run with wrong spec content. The two are mutually exclusive (setting both fails with parameter "file" and "files" are mutually exclusive).

value: Defaults to the source output. Setting it explicitly makes the condition or target independent of any source.
versionfilter: Only meaningful for a source, and only when the selector returns several values - it picks one out of the list. See the "Version Filtering" page.

Note	`multiple` is deprecated and hidden from the table above. It still works, logging a warning, and a `key` used together with it is silently rewritten into `query`. Use a selector that returns several values instead.

Engines

engine selects which version of Dasel parses the file. It matters more than it looks: the selector syntax is not portable between versions.

Value Behaviour

Value	Behaviour
`dasel/v1`	Default when `engine` is unset. Deprecated - every run logs a warning.
`dasel/v2`	Deprecated - every run logs a warning.
`dasel/v3`	Current engine.
`dasel`	Alias resolving to the latest engine, currently `dasel/v3`.

dasel/v1

Default when engine is unset. Deprecated - every run logs a warning.

dasel/v2

Deprecated - every run logs a warning.

dasel/v3

Current engine.

dasel

Alias resolving to the latest engine, currently dasel/v3.

The leading dot is the trap when migrating:

Selector dasel/v1 dasel/v2 dasel/v3

Selector	`dasel/v1`	`dasel/v2`	`dasel/v3`
`.version`	✔	✔	✗ parse error
`version`	✔	✔	✔

.version

✔

✗ parse error

version

✔

On dasel/v3 a leading dot fails with error parsing selector: failed to parse: unexpected token 29 "." at position 0. Multi-value selectors differ too (.deps.[*].version on dasel/v1 is written .deps.all().version on dasel/v2).

Warning

query is a dasel/v1 parameter. On dasel/v2 and dasel/v3 a query without a key is a validation error:

engine "dasel/v3" requires the parameter "key" over "query"

On dasel/v1 the split is the other way round: query is the multi-value form and pairs with versionfilter, while key returns exactly one value. Using query without versionfilter, or versionfilter without query, fails a source with in the context of a source, parameter "versionfilter" and "query" must be used together. That rule does not apply to dasel/v2 and dasel/v3, where key covers both cases.

Remote files

file accepts https://, http:// and file:// schemes for a source and a condition, which is how the example below reads the Node.js release index straight from nodejs.org.

A target cannot write to a URL, and refuses rather than silently skipping:

URL scheme is not supported for Json target: "https://nodejs.org/dist/index.json"

Examples

Retrieves a value from a JSON file

# updatecli.yaml
name: Basic Json Example

scms:
  default:
    kind: git
    spec:
      url: https://github.com/updatecli/updatecli.git

sources:
  local:
    name: Get value from json
    kind: json
    scmid: default
    spec:
      file: pkg/plugins/resources/json/testdata/data.json
      key: firstName
  http:
    name: Get value from json
    kind: json
    spec:
      file: https://www.updatecli.io/schema/latest/config.json
      key: $id

conditions:
  local:
    name: Test value from json
    kind: json
    sourceid: local
    scmid: default
    spec:
      file: pkg/plugins/resources/json/testdata/data.json
      key: firstName
  http:
    name: Test value from json
    kind: json
    disablesourceinput: true
    spec:
      file: https://www.updatecli.io/schema/latest/config.json
      key: $schema
      value: http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema

targets:
  local:
    name: Test value from json
    kind: json
    sourceid: local
    scmid: default
    spec:
      file: pkg/plugins/resources/json/testdata/data.json
      key: firstName
      value: John

Uses a path to find a value in a JSON file

# jenkins-old-versions.yaml
# We're working with https://updates.jenkins.io/tiers.json
# {"stableCores":["2.346.3","2.361.1", ...,"2.414.2"],"weeklyCores":["2.364","2.371",...,"2.425"]}
# This example finds the oldest weekly and stable supported Jenkins versions (first in the list)
# It also finds the latest weekly and stable Jenkins versions (last in the list)
name: Find oldest supported Jenkins versions

scms:
  default:
    kind: github
    spec:
      user: "{{ .github.user }}"
      email: "{{ .github.email }}"
      owner: "{{ .github.owner }}"
      repository: "{{ .github.repository }}"
      token: "{{ requiredEnv .github.token }}"
      username: "{{ .github.username }}"
      branch: "{{ .github.branch }}"

sources:
  JenkinsOldestSupportedWeekly:
    name: Get the oldest supported Jenkins weekly version
    kind: json
    scmid: default
    spec:
      file: https://updates.jenkins.io/tiers.json
      key: "weeklyCores.[0]"
  JenkinsOldestSupportedStable:
    name: Get the oldest supported Jenkins stable version
    kind: json
    scmid: default
    spec:
      file: https://updates.jenkins.io/tiers.json
      # `key` targets only one value, the first one of the list in this case
      key: "stableCores.[0]"
  JenkinsNewestWeeklyVersion:
    name: Get the newest supported Jenkins weekly version
    kind: json
    spec:
      file: https://updates.jenkins.io/tiers.json
      # Here we use `query` to target all the values in the list
      query: "weeklyCores.[*]"
      # We use `versionfilter` to filter the list of versions
      # Combined with `semver`, we can target the latest version that follows the semver pattern
      versionfilter:
        kind: semver
  JenkinsNewestStableVersion:
    name: Get the newest supported Jenkins stable version
    kind: json
    spec:
      file: https://updates.jenkins.io/tiers.json
      query: "stableCores.[*]"
      versionfilter:
        kind: semver

conditions:
  # Test that the oldest Jenkins supported weekly version exists
  jenkinsOldestSupportedWeeklyVersion:
    kind: jenkins
    spec:
      release: weekly
    sourceid: JenkinsOldestSupportedWeekly
  # Test that the oldest Jenkins supported stable version exists
  jenkinsOldestSupportedStableVersion:
    kind: jenkins
    sourceid: JenkinsOldestSupportedStable
  # Test that the newest Jenkins supported weekly version exists
  jenkinsNewestSupportedWeeklyVersion:
    kind: jenkins
    spec:
      release: weekly
    sourceid: JenkinsNewestWeeklyVersion
  # Test that the newest Jenkins supported stable version exists
  jenkinsNewestSupportedStableVersion:
    kind: jenkins
    sourceid: JenkinsNewestStableVersion
targets:
  setJenkinsOldestSupportedWeekly:
    kind: file
    name: "Bump Jenkins oldest weekly supported version in the \"Choosing a version\" page"
    sourceid: JenkinsOldestSupportedWeekly
    spec:
      file: content/doc/developer/plugin-development/choosing-jenkins-baseline.adoc
      matchpattern: >-
        (.*Do not use versions no longer supported by the update center.*older than )(.*)( for weekly releases.*for LTS releases.*)
      replacepattern: >-
        ${1}{{ source "JenkinsOldestSupportedWeekly" }}${3}
    scmid: default
  setJenkinsOldestSupportedStable:
    kind: file
    name: "Bump Jenkins oldest stable supported version in the \"Choosing a version\" page"
    sourceid: JenkinsOldestSupportedStable
    spec:
      file: content/doc/developer/plugin-development/choosing-jenkins-baseline.adoc
      matchpattern: >-
        (.*Do not use versions no longer supported by the update center.* weekly releases, and )(.*)( for LTS releases.*)
      replacepattern: >-
        ${1}{{ source "JenkinsOldestSupportedStable" }}${3}
    scmid: default

actions:
  default:
    kind: github/pullrequest
    scmid: default
    title: Bump Jenkins LTS and weekly versions in various parts of the documentation
    spec:
      labels:
        - dependencies
        - chore

Links

Last updated on July 30, 2026

Jenkins

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Docs

Title here

JSON

Description

Parameters

Engines

Remote files

Examples

Retrieves a value from a JSON file

Uses a path to find a value in a JSON file

Links

JSON

Description#

Parameters#

Engines#

Remote files#

Examples#

Retrieves a value from a JSON file#

Uses a path to find a value in a JSON file#

Links#

Description

Parameters

Engines

Remote files

Examples

Retrieves a value from a JSON file

Uses a path to find a value in a JSON file

Links