JSON6 Tutorials and Guides
Step-by-step guides from first install to a production config loader, with every example run.
New to JSON6? Start with Getting Started. Coming from JSON or JSON5, read the matching migration guide. Building a service, finish with the config loader.
Start Here
If you have never used JSON6, begin with the first tutorial. It installs the json-6 package, walks through a commented .json6 file, and shows every way of loading one from Node.
Migrate an Existing Project
Two guides cover the formats people are most likely to be coming from. Both are written around tested scripts, and both are upfront about what silently changes.
Migrate from JSON
Rename hand-edited files after proving the parsers agree, swap the loader, and keep a generated JSON copy for tools that need one.
Beginner about 15 minutesMigrate from JSON5
What stays identical, what is new, and the changes in meaning that raise no error. Includes a compatibility checker for your own files.
Intermediate about 20 minutesBuild Something Real
Parsing a file is easy. Loading one safely in a service is where the sharp edges are, because JSON6 ignores trailing text and treats __proto__ specially.
Choosing a Path
The difficulty badges mean the following. Beginner assumes you can run a Node script and need no JSON6 knowledge. Intermediate assumes you have read the first tutorial, are comfortable with require and the file system, and will write more than a few lines of code. There are no advanced tutorials yet.
| If you want to... | Read | Level |
|---|---|---|
| See what JSON6 is and try it | Getting Started | Beginner |
| Add comments to JSON config files | Migrate from JSON | Beginner |
| Replace a JSON5 parser | Migrate from JSON5 | Intermediate |
| Load app settings in a Node service | Config Files | Intermediate |
| Look up an error message | Error Reference | Reference |
| Check a syntax rule | Syntax Reference | Reference |
A sensible order for a new project is Getting Started, then the migration guide for your starting format, then the config loader. Each page links to the next.
What These Tutorials Do Not Cover
JSON6 has a small ecosystem, and the tutorials stay inside what exists and was run. There are no tutorials for editor extensions, bundler plugins or framework integrations, because we found none: a search of the npm registry on 10-27-2026 turned up the json-6 parser, a 2015 prototype named json6, a small require hook, and a few empty or unrelated packages. Where a tool cannot read .json6 files, the guides show the real workaround: load the text and parse it with json-6, generate plain JSON with json-6 -c, or use JavaScript or JSON5 syntax highlighting in your editor. See the editors page for what that looks like.
The tutorials are also Node-focused. Browser use, TypeScript types, and the streaming parser have their own pages: browser, TypeScript and streaming.
FAQ
Do I need to know JSON5 first?
No. JSON6 adds a few features to JSON5, but the tutorials explain each feature as it appears. Knowing JSON is enough.
Which Node version do the tutorials use?
The examples were run on Node 24. The json-6 package declares support for Node 10 and later, and the ESM loader used in one example needs Node 20.6 or later.
Are there video or interactive tutorials?
No. For interactive practice, paste text into the online validator or converter and see the result immediately.
Ready to Try It?
Install the parser and have a commented config file loading in ten minutes.