Global Options

These options are available across all jwx commands.

--no-color

Disable colored terminal output.

jwx --no-color eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...
jwx decode --no-color eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...

jwx also respects the NO_COLOR environment variable, following the no-color.org convention:

export NO_COLOR=1
jwx eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...  # output will be uncolored

This is useful when:

• Piping output to a file or another program
• Running in a CI/CD environment that doesn't support ANSI escapes
• Using a terminal emulator with limited color support
• Accessibility needs

--json / -j

Output results as machine-readable JSON instead of the colorized display.

# Decode as JSON
jwx --json eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...

# Sign and output as JSON
jwx sign --alg HS256 --secret key --json '{"sub":"1234"}'

For decode, the JSON output contains header, payload, and signature fields. For sign, it outputs {"token":"..."}.

This flag is ideal for scripting with jq:

# Extract the subject claim
jwx --json "$TOKEN" | jq -r .payload.sub

# Pretty-print the full payload
jwx --json "$TOKEN" | jq .payload

# Get the signing algorithm
jwx --json "$TOKEN" | jq -r .header.alg

--clipboard / -c

Read the JWT token from the system clipboard instead of requiring it as an argument or via stdin.

# Copy a token to your clipboard, then:
jwx --clipboard
jwx -c

This works across platforms:

• macOS: Uses pbpaste
• Linux: Uses xclip or xsel (must be installed)
• Windows: Uses the Win32 clipboard API

--help / -h

Display help for any command:

jwx --help
jwx decode --help
jwx sign --help

--version / -v

Display the jwx version, commit hash, and build date:

jwx version

Environment variables

Variable	Description
NO_COLOR	When set to any value, disables colored output (equivalent to --no-color)

Flag precedence

When multiple input sources conflict, jwx uses this precedence:

1. Command-line argument -- highest priority
2. --clipboard flag -- reads from clipboard
3. Stdin -- reads from piped input (only when stdin is not a terminal)

If no input is provided through any of these methods, jwx shows the help text.