Is yq in the official Ubuntu repositories?

No — yq is not packaged in the official Ubuntu archives. This free mirror serves the newest yq release that is at least 2 months old; the main repository at deb.griffo.io serves every release within hours of upstream.

How do I install the latest yq on Ubuntu?

Add the deb-free.griffo.io repository once using the instructions above, then run: sudo apt install yq. New releases arrive through the normal sudo apt upgrade.

Are the packages signed and how are they built?

Every package is signed with the repository's GPG key (EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256) and built from upstream releases in public GitHub packaging repositories that anyone can inspect.

Which Ubuntu releases are supported?

Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy, 24.04 Noble, 25.10 Questing and 26.04 Resolute.

Install yq on Ubuntu via apt

Source	Version
deb.griffo.io (main)	4.53.3 ✅
Official Ubuntu	🚫 not packaged

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What is yq?

yq is a lightweight, portable command-line processor for structured data — YAML, JSON, XML, CSV, TOML and properties files — written in Go by Mike Farah. It uses jq-like syntax, so everything you know from jq transfers directly: query, transform, merge, and edit files in place, in scripts and pipelines, with a single dependency-free binary.

⚠️ Which yq is this? This is mikefarah/yq (v4.x, Go) — the one used in most CI examples and documentation. It is not the python-based yq jq-wrapper found in some archives; this package supersedes it cleanly, and no python or jq is required.

            🆓 Free forever, patched immediately: Debian and Ubuntu freeze package versions when a release ships; this free mirror instead serves the newest release once it is at least 2 months old, with security fixes published immediately. Want every release within hours instead? That's the main repository at deb.griffo.io.
        

⚡ Key Features of yq

🔄 Six Formats

YAML, JSON, XML, CSV/TSV, TOML and properties — read one, output another: yq -o=json '.' config.yaml converts in one step.

🧠 jq-like Syntax

Familiar paths, pipes, functions and operators. If you can write a jq filter, you can already use yq on YAML.

✏️ In-place Editing

yq -i '.spec.replicas = 3' deploy.yaml — scripted edits to Kubernetes manifests, CI configs and Compose files, comments preserved.

📦 Zero Dependencies

A single static Go binary. No runtime, no libraries, no python — ideal for minimal containers and CI runners.

🔀 Merge & Anchors

Deep-merges multiple files, resolves YAML anchors and aliases, handles multi-document streams — the hard YAML cases done right.

📖 Man Page Included

This package ships the full man page alongside the binary — man yq works offline, matching Debian conventions.

🏆 Why install it with apt?

Fleet-friendly: pin one repo in your base images and every server, container and CI runner gets the same current yq
No curl-to-bin: a GPG-signed repository instead of downloading binaries into /usr/local/bin by hand
The right yq: guarantees mikefarah/yq v4 semantics everywhere — no surprises from the python wrapper on some machines
Automatic updates: new upstream releases arrive with your normal apt upgrade
Multi-arch: amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, s390x and riscv64

📦 Installation from deb-free.griffo.io

Step 1: Add Repository

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb-free.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb-free.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb-free.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
                

install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb-free.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb-free.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb-free.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
apt update
                

Step 2: Install yq

sudo apt install -y yq

apt install -y yq

🚀 First run

yq '.services | keys' docker-compose.yml     # query
yq -i '.image.tag = "1.2.3"' values.yaml     # edit in place
yq -o=json '.' config.yaml                   # YAML -> JSON
        

📦 Package Build Repository

The Debian packages are automatically built and maintained in this GitHub repository:

📂 yq-debian - Latest release builds

🔗 Related Packages

Also available from deb.griffo.io:

k9s - Kubernetes TUI — pairs with yq for manifest wrangling
lazydocker - Docker TUI for the Compose files you just edited
just - A command runner to wrap your yq one-liners

            🎯 Perfect for: DevOps engineers editing Kubernetes manifests and Helm values, CI/CD pipelines transforming configuration, sysadmins scripting against YAML/JSON APIs, and anyone who wants jq ergonomics for every config format.
        

💝 Support This Project

If this repository saves you time and effort, please consider supporting it!

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📑 Install Latest yq on Ubuntu