Tools Practical By Samson Tanimawo, PhD Published Feb 7, 2026 4 min read

yq: jq for YAML

yq applies jq syntax to YAML.

Syntax

yq '.spec.replicas' file.yaml extracts values.

Same syntax as jq.

yq edit on k8s manifests is faster than sed.

Used in helmfile, kustomize workflows.

mikefarah/yq is the popular fork. Original kislyuk/yq wraps jq.

Pick mikefarah/yq for most use cases.