jsonref

jsonref is a library for automatic dereferencing of JSON Reference objects for Python.

jsonref Permissive license MIT AGING ★ 153 v1.1.0 released 2023-01-16

Install

jsonref on PyPI

pip

pip install jsonref

uv

uv add jsonref

poetry

poetry add jsonref

Package facts

License	MIT (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.7)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	none
Maintenance	aging — 1,305 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2025-04-21
First released	2013-05-17
Popularity	one of the top 1,000 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: jsonref-1.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

About jsonref

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

jsonref

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jsonref is a library for automatic dereferencing of JSON Reference objects for Python (supporting Python 3.7+).

This library lets you use a data structure with JSON reference objects, as if the references had been replaced with the referent data.

```python console >>> from pprint import pprint >>> import jsonref

>>> # An example json document >>> json_str = """{"real": [1, 2, 3, 4], "ref": {"$ref": "#/real"}}""" >>> data = jsonref.loads(json_str) >>> pprint(data) # Reference is not evaluated until here {'real': [1, 2, 3, 4], 'ref': [1, 2, 3,...

Read as markdown · JSON record · Source repository · Docs

AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

jsonref automatically dereferences JSON Reference objects in JSON data, replacing `$ref` pointers with their target values transparently through lazy-loading proxy objects.

No runtime dependencies and a pure-Python wheel distribution make installation straightforward. The package is aging—last release was January 2023 and no commits in over a year—but the repository remains active and the library is stable enough for its narrow scope.

MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with only attribution required, making this suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.

Usage

import jsonref
json_str = '{"real": [1, 2, 3], "ref": {"$ref": "#/real"}}'
data = jsonref.loads(json_str)
print(data["ref"])  # [1, 2, 3] — reference transparently resolved

Requires Python 3.7 or later.

Verdict: jsonref is a lightweight, dependency-free library for JSON Reference resolution with no known vulnerabilities. Its aging maintenance status (1.3 years since last release) is acceptable given the stable, narrow scope of the functionality, but users should verify it meets their specific JSON Reference draft version requirements before adoption.

Needs verification

Which JSON Reference draft version(s) does jsonref conform to (the excerpt mentions draft-03 but implementation coverage is unclear)
Whether the lazy-loading behavior and proxy transparency work correctly with all common JSON manipulation libraries and serialization patterns

json reference dereferencingresolve json $ref pointersjson schema reference resolutionlazy json reference proxyjson pointer dereferencing libraryautomatic json ref replacement