I am using IntelliJ as an IDE. Unfortunately, IntelliJ does not support jq. Language injection is not offered and I can't find a suitable plugin. I searched for "IDE support for jq" or similar many times and surprisingly this brings up nothing useful.
Sometimes I write jq programs that are not just oneliners. I always struggle with getting the syntax right, for example adding the right amount of brackets in the right place and manually refactoring code into functions is painstaking.
IntelliJ at least offers a hotkey to jump to the matching bracket (Shift-Ctrl-M), which works in any text file and displays the block enclosed by a pair of brackets in colour in the editor.
Are there any special IDE features that make editing jq programs easier? For example, a folding of code blocks based on matching brackets or a bracket selection feature similar to Ctrl-W for selection in Java would be very helpful. Also, it is important for me to indent the jq code properly to make it more understandable. Is there any generic support for formatting code?
I don't expect complete refactorings, but any advice on useful editor features that make life easier as a jq programmer is highly welcome.
Any modern code editor should be sufficient for the basic functionality you mention. There's a listing at https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/best-code-editor; I'd add Emacs/Aquamacs.
You might also like to try one or more of these "jq" add-ons: