Edit config files without reflowing them.

One value changes. Nothing else moves.

Your tsconfig.json has comments, hand-alignment, and trailing commas - the things most tools destroy on the way through a parser. edikt edits the tree but writes back the file.

$ edikt -i '.compilerOptions.target = "ES2022"' tsconfig.json
$ git diff
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "compilerOptions": {
     // Keep this in sync with the deploy image!
-    "target": "ES2020",
+    "target": "ES2022",
     "strict": true,   /* non-negotiable */
     "outDir": "./dist",

A one-line diff, comments intact - instead of "the tool reformatted the whole file."

# query, jq-style - any supported format
$ edikt '.compilerOptions.strict' tsconfig.json
true

# compute in place, chain edits, delete keys
$ edikt -i '.version |= . + "-dev"' package.jsonc
$ cat settings.jsonc | edikt -t jsonc 'del(.telemetry) | .theme = "dark"'

# convert between formats - comments carried across
$ edikt -T yaml tsconfig.jsonc

# bump every crate in a Cargo workspace
$ for c in crates/*/Cargo.toml; do
>   edikt -i '.package.version = "0.2.0"' "$c"
> done

Seven formats, one grammar

The same expression works on the whole pile of config a project accumulates. Format detected by extension; each format is backed by the best lossless substrate for the job (toml_edit, kdl-rs, a rowan CST for the rest).

Comments are data here

Every other tool treats comments as debris to preserve at best. edikt makes them addressable, queryable, and editable - a dimension of the document, with their own sigil.

# read the comment above a key
$ edikt '.compilerOptions.target.#' tsconfig.json
Keep this in sync with the deploy image!

# set an inline comment
$ edikt -i '.database.pool.#.inline = "tuned 2026-07"' app.toml

# stream every comment in the file, with its path
$ edikt 'comments' compose.yaml

Losslessly bulk-editing the comments themselves is something no other config tool does.

The fine print, by design

• sed-shaped exit codes. A query matching nothing is a silent no-op - safe under set -e. --exit-status opts into jq's behavior when you want it.
• YAML without the Norway trap. Scalars resolve per the YAML 1.2 core schema: on, no, and yes are strings, and value types are preserved across round-trips.
• Real jq idioms. // defaults, |= update-assign, del(), regex test/sub/gsub, split/join - a curated v1 surface, not a dialect that surprises you.
• Scripts welcome. Multiple -e expressions per run, or a whole edit script from a file with -f release.edk.
• A library, too. The CLI sits on independently published crates - edikt-core plus a lossless Document implementation per format - if you'd rather do this from Rust. See the crates.

Why it exists

The problem crystallized reading "Respectful" YAML Patching in Rust, which surveys the ecosystem and lands on the gap in one line: none of the tools preserve both the formatting and the comments.

Surgically change one value - or one comment - and leave every other byte alone. Not just for YAML, but for the whole pile of config formats a project accumulates.

The good tools each own their corner: jq and yq for querying, taplo and prettier for formatting, and the excellent toml_edit and kdl-rs for lossless edits (edikt is built on those last two). edikt isn't trying to replace them - it's the piece that wasn't on the shelf: one tool that edits and queries and converts, across all of these, touching only the bytes you point at.