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brew / rank 2258

Install hcl2json with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Convert HCL2 to JSON. Version 0.6.9 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-25. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#hcl2json.

Install commandSecurity notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install hcl2json

local Homebrew formula metadata

MacPortsverified · 94%
sudo port install hcl2json

MacPorts ports tree · textproc/hcl2json/Portfile · source: api.github.com

Linux

Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#hcl2json

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/hc/hcl2json/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Convert HCL2 to JSON

Commands and aliases

  • hcl2json

history

Project history and usage

hcl2json is a small Go command-line converter for turning HashiCorp Configuration Language version 2 input into JSON. Its niche is not general Terraform evaluation; it is a bridge for scripts and non-Go programs that need to inspect HCL-shaped configuration without embedding a full HCL-aware application.

Project history

The repository was created in July 2019 and framed itself around HCL2 conversion at a time when HCL was becoming the shared configuration substrate for Terraform and other HashiCorp-style tools. The README says the tool was created because there were few direct schemaless converters, while later HashiCorp HCL tooling such as hcldec offered a more specification-driven path.

Adoption history

Adoption stayed in the small-utility lane: Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, prebuilt GitHub release binaries, Docker images, and tool-version-manager installs made it easy to drop into shell pipelines. The project matters most where HCL is data to inspect or transform rather than configuration to execute.

How it is used

Typical use is piping an HCL file or stdin through hcl2json and redirecting JSON output for downstream tools. The README also documents a simplify mode and an HCL pack-format mode, while warning that some HCL constructs cannot be converted with exact semantic equivalence.

Why package nerds care

Package maintainers care about hcl2json because it is a single-purpose, Go-built CLI with no runtime service, no credentials, and obvious test fixtures: feed HCL in, compare JSON out. It fills the awkward gap between plain text processing and linking a whole HCL application stack.

Timeline

  • 2019: GitHub repository created.
  • 2019: v0.0.1 release published.
  • 2020: 0.3.x releases broadened the early packaged surface.
  • 2021: v0.3.2 release published.

Related projects

  • HashiCorp HCL provides the underlying configuration language and Go packages.
  • Terraform is the most common class of HCL input mentioned by the project.
  • hcldec is the upstream HCL command-line alternative for spec-guided decoding.

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

  • narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

  • metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

  • No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

executables

Installed executables

CommandKindExposureNote
hcl2jsonexecutableindexed executableDiscovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03
manager version0.6.9
manager updated2026-07-25
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
  • okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package keybrew:hcl2json
Version0.6.9
Package managerHomebrew
Homepagehttps://github.com/tmccombs/hcl2json
Repositoryhttps://github.com/tmccombs/hcl2json
Last updated2026-07-25T20:56:30-04:00
Pulseupdated
Bottlenot recorded
Servicenone declared

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

hcl2json

nix profile install nixpkgs#hcl2json
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Hcl2json
nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/hc/hcl2json/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
MacPorts95%

hcl2json

sudo port install hcl2json
  • normalized package name match
  • Matched by: Hcl2json
MacPorts ports tree · api.github.com · MacPorts ports tree: textproc/hcl2json/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Used sources

  • Geiger risk classifier
  • cross-ecosystem install command graph
  • curated package history
  • external package-manager database matches
  • pkg.so package database
  • pkgdb category and tag curation