fix: strip comments from JSON request bodies in CLI (#5769)

Fixes collections with JSON comments failing in the CLI with `SerializationException` while working fine in the app, where comments are stripped before sending requests, but the CLI was sending them as-is, breaking APIs like AWS Cognito that expect valid JSON.

packages/hoppscotch-cli/package.json

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
     "commander": "14.0.2",
     "isolated-vm": "6.0.2",
     "js-md5": "0.8.3",
+    "jsonc-parser": "3.3.1",
     "lodash-es": "4.17.22",
     "papaparse": "5.5.3",
     "qs": "6.14.0",

packages/hoppscotch-cli/src/__tests__/e2e/commands/test.spec.ts

@@ -180,6 +180,16 @@ describe("hopp test [options] <file_path_or_id>", { timeout: 100000 }, () => {
       expect(result.error).toBeNull();
     });
 
+    test("Strips comments from JSONC request bodies", async () => {
+      const args = `test ${getTestJsonFilePath(
+        "jsonc-body-coll.json",
+        "collection"
+      )}`;
+      const result = await runCLIWithNetworkRetry(args);
+      if (result === null) return;
+      expect(result.error).toBeNull();
+    });
+
     describe("OAuth 2 Authorization type with Authorization Code Grant Type", () => {
       test("Successfully translates the authorization information to headers/query params and sends it along with the request", async () => {
         const args = `test ${getTestJsonFilePath(

packages/hoppscotch-cli/src/__tests__/e2e/fixtures/collections/jsonc-body-coll.json

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+{
+  "v": 11,
+  "name": "JSONC Body Test Collection",
+  "folders": [],
+  "requests": [
+    {
+      "v": "17",
+      "auth": {
+        "authType": "inherit",
+        "authActive": true
+      },
+      "body": {
+        "body": "{\n  \"key1\": \"value1\", // inline comment\n  \"key2\": \"value2\" // another comment\n}",
+        "contentType": "application/json"
+      },
+      "name": "Echo with inline comments",
+      "method": "POST",
+      "params": [],
+      "headers": [],
+      "endpoint": "https://echo.hoppscotch.io",
+      "testScript": "hopp.test('Should successfully parse JSONC with comments', () => {\n  hopp.expect(hopp.response.statusCode).toBe(200);\n  const data = JSON.parse(hopp.response.body.asJSON().data);\n  hopp.expect(data.key1).toBe('value1');\n  hopp.expect(data.key2).toBe('value2');\n});",
+      "preRequestScript": "",
+      "requestVariables": [],
+      "responses": {}
+    },
+    {
+      "v": "17",
+      "auth": {
+        "authType": "inherit",
+        "authActive": true
+      },
+      "body": {
+        "body": "{\n  /* Multi-line comment\n     should also work */\n  \"message\": \"test\",\n  \"nested\": {\n    \"field\": \"value\" // another comment\n  }\n}",
+        "contentType": "application/json"
+      },
+      "name": "Echo with multiline comments",
+      "method": "POST",
+      "params": [],
+      "headers": [],
+      "endpoint": "https://echo.hoppscotch.io",
+      "testScript": "hopp.test('Should successfully parse JSONC with multiline comments', () => {\n  hopp.expect(hopp.response.statusCode).toBe(200);\n  const data = JSON.parse(hopp.response.body.asJSON().data);\n  hopp.expect(data.message).toBe('test');\n  hopp.expect(data.nested.field).toBe('value');\n});",
+      "preRequestScript": "",
+      "requestVariables": [],
+      "responses": {}
+    },
+    {
+      "v": "17",
+      "auth": {
+        "authType": "inherit",
+        "authActive": true
+      },
+      "body": {
+        "body": "{\n  \"key\": \"value\",\n  \"count\": 42,\n}",
+        "contentType": "application/json"
+      },
+      "name": "Echo with trailing commas",
+      "method": "POST",
+      "params": [],
+      "headers": [],
+      "endpoint": "https://echo.hoppscotch.io",
+      "testScript": "hopp.test('Should successfully parse JSONC with trailing commas', () => {\n  hopp.expect(hopp.response.statusCode).toBe(200);\n  const data = JSON.parse(hopp.response.body.asJSON().data);\n  hopp.expect(data.key).toBe('value');\n  hopp.expect(data.count).toBe(42);\n});",
+      "preRequestScript": "",
+      "requestVariables": [],
+      "responses": {}
+    }
+  ],
+  "auth": {
+    "authType": "inherit",
+    "authActive": true
+  },
+  "headers": [],
+  "variables": [],
+  "description": ""
+}

packages/hoppscotch-cli/src/__tests__/unit/jsonc.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "vitest";
+import { stripComments } from "../../utils/jsonc";
+
+describe("stripComments", () => {
+  describe("handles inline comments", () => {
+    test("removes single inline comment", () => {
+      const input = '{"key": "value" // comment\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key: "value" });
+    });
+
+    test("removes multiple inline comments", () => {
+      const input = '{\n  "key1": "value1", // comment1\n  "key2": "value2" // comment2\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key1: "value1", key2: "value2" });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("handles multiline comments", () => {
+    test("removes single multiline comment", () => {
+      const input = '{\n  /* This is a comment */\n  "key": "value"\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key: "value" });
+    });
+
+    test("removes multiline comment spanning multiple lines", () => {
+      const input = '{\n  /* This is\n     a multiline\n     comment */\n  "key": "value"\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key: "value" });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("handles trailing commas", () => {
+    test("removes trailing comma in object", () => {
+      const input = '{"key": "value",}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key: "value" });
+    });
+
+    test("removes trailing comma in array", () => {
+      const input = '["item1", "item2",]';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual(["item1", "item2"]);
+    });
+
+    test("removes multiple trailing commas in nested structures", () => {
+      const input = '{"arr": ["a", "b",], "obj": {"key": "value",},}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ arr: ["a", "b"], obj: { key: "value" } });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("handles combined cases", () => {
+    test("removes both comments and trailing commas", () => {
+      const input = '{\n  "key1": "value1", // inline comment\n  /* block comment */\n  "key2": "value2",\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key1: "value1", key2: "value2" });
+    });
+
+    test("handles nested objects with comments and trailing commas", () => {
+      const input = '{\n  "outer": { // comment\n    "inner": "value",\n  },\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ outer: { inner: "value" } });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("handles edge cases", () => {
+    test("returns empty string unchanged", () => {
+      const input = "";
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      expect(result).toBe("");
+    });
+
+    test("returns whitespace-only string unchanged", () => {
+      const input = "   \n  \t  ";
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      expect(result).toBe(input);
+    });
+
+    test("handles valid JSON without comments", () => {
+      const input = '{"key": "value"}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key: "value" });
+    });
+
+    test("preserves JSON strings containing comment-like sequences", () => {
+      const input = '{"url": "https://example.com//path"}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed.url).toBe("https://example.com//path");
+    });
+
+    test("handles deeply nested structures", () => {
+      const input = '{\n  "a": {\n    "b": {\n      "c": {\n        "d": "value", // nested comment\n      },\n    },\n  },\n}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ a: { b: { c: { d: "value" } } } });
+    });
+
+    test("handles arrays with mixed content", () => {
+      const input = '[\n  "string",\n  123, // number\n  true, // boolean\n  null, // null\n  {"nested": "object",}, // object\n]';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual(["string", 123, true, null, { nested: "object" }]);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("handles null return from stripComments_", () => {
+    test("gracefully handles potential null from jsonc-parser", () => {
+      const input = '{"key": "value"}';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      expect(result).toBeTruthy();
+      const parsed = JSON.parse(result);
+      expect(parsed).toEqual({ key: "value" });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("handles malformed JSON", () => {
+    test("attempts to parse malformed JSON and returns result", () => {
+      // jsonc-parser is lenient and tries to repair malformed JSON
+      const input = '{"key": "value"'; // missing closing brace
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      // The parser will attempt to close the brace
+      expect(result).toBe('{"key":"value"}');
+    });
+
+    test("gracefully handles completely invalid JSON", () => {
+      const input = 'this is not json at all {]}{]';
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      // jsonc-parser extracts what it can and returns an object (even if mostly empty)
+      expect(result).toBe('{}');
+    });
+
+    test("handles JSON with syntax errors", () => {
+      const input = '{"key": undefined}'; // undefined is not valid JSON
+      const result = stripComments(input);
+      // Parser will handle this - exact behavior depends on jsonc-parser
+      expect(typeof result).toBe('string');
+    });
+  });
+});

packages/hoppscotch-cli/src/utils/jsonc.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+import { Node, parseTree, stripComments as stripComments_ } from "jsonc-parser";
+
+/**
+ * An internal error that is thrown when an invalid JSONC node configuration
+ * is encountered
+ */
+class InvalidJSONCNodeError extends Error {
+  constructor() {
+    super();
+    this.message = "Invalid JSONC node";
+  }
+}
+
+// NOTE: If we choose to export this function, do refactor it to return a result discriminated union instead of throwing
+/**
+ * @throws {InvalidJSONCNodeError} if the node is in an invalid configuration
+ * @returns The JSON string without comments and trailing commas
+ */
+function convertNodeToJSON(node: Node): string {
+  switch (node.type) {
+    case "string":
+      return JSON.stringify(node.value);
+    case "null":
+      return "null";
+    case "array":
+      if (!node.children) {
+        throw new InvalidJSONCNodeError();
+      }
+
+      return `[${node.children
+        .map((child) => convertNodeToJSON(child))
+        .join(",")}]`;
+    case "number":
+      return JSON.stringify(node.value);
+    case "boolean":
+      return JSON.stringify(node.value);
+    case "object":
+      if (!node.children) {
+        throw new InvalidJSONCNodeError();
+      }
+
+      return `{${node.children
+        .map((child) => convertNodeToJSON(child))
+        .join(",")}}`;
+    case "property":
+      if (!node.children || node.children.length !== 2) {
+        throw new InvalidJSONCNodeError();
+      }
+
+      const [keyNode, valueNode] = node.children;
+
+      // Use keyNode.value instead of keyNode to avoid circular references.
+      // Attempting to JSON.stringify(keyNode) directly would throw
+      // "Converting circular structure to JSON" error.
+      // If the valueNode configuration is wrong, this will return an error, which will propagate up
+      return `${JSON.stringify(keyNode.value)}:${convertNodeToJSON(valueNode)}`;
+  }
+}
+
+function stripCommentsAndCommas(text: string): string {
+  const tree = parseTree(text, undefined, {
+    allowEmptyContent: true,
+    allowTrailingComma: true,
+  });
+
+  // If we couldn't parse the tree, return the original text
+  if (!tree) {
+    return text;
+  }
+
+  // convertNodeToJSON can throw an error if the tree is invalid
+  try {
+    return convertNodeToJSON(tree);
+  } catch (_) {
+    return text;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Removes comments and trailing commas from a JSONC string.
+ * This is needed because APIs like AWS Cognito expect valid JSON without comments,
+ * but Hoppscotch allows users to add comments to their request bodies.
+ *
+ * @param jsoncString The JSONC string with comments and/or trailing commas.
+ * @returns The clean JSON string without comments or trailing commas.
+ */
+export function stripComments(jsoncString: string): string {
+  return stripCommentsAndCommas(stripComments_(jsoncString) ?? jsoncString);
+}

packages/hoppscotch-cli/src/utils/pre-request.ts

@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ import {
   parseTemplateStringE,
   generateJWTToken,
   HoppCollectionVariable,
-  calculateHawkHeader
+  calculateHawkHeader,
 } from "@hoppscotch/data";
-import { runPreRequestScript } from "@hoppscotch/js-sandbox/node"
+import { runPreRequestScript } from "@hoppscotch/js-sandbox/node";
 import { createHoppFetchHook } from "./hopp-fetch";
 import * as A from "fp-ts/Array";
 import * as E from "fp-ts/Either";
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import {
   fetchInitialDigestAuthInfo,
   generateDigestAuthHeader,
 } from "./auth/digest";
+import { stripComments } from "./jsonc";
 
 /**
  * Runs pre-request-script runner over given request which extracts set ENVs and
@@ -81,7 +82,8 @@ export const preRequestScriptRunner = (
         updatedRequest: updatedRequest ?? {},
       };
     }),
-    TE.chainW(({ preRequestUpdatedEnvs, envForEffectiveRequest, updatedRequest }) => {
+    TE.chainW(
+      ({ preRequestUpdatedEnvs, envForEffectiveRequest, updatedRequest }) => {
         const finalRequest = { ...request, ...updatedRequest };
 
         return TE.tryCatch(
@@ -103,7 +105,8 @@ export const preRequestScriptRunner = (
           },
           (reason) => error({ code: "PRE_REQUEST_SCRIPT_ERROR", data: reason })
         );
-    }),
+      }
+    ),
     TE.chainEitherKW((effectiveRequest) => effectiveRequest),
     TE.mapLeft((reason) =>
       isHoppCLIError(reason)
@@ -578,6 +581,58 @@ function getFinalBodyFromRequest(
     return E.right(body);
   }
 
+  // For JSON content types, parse the string body into a JavaScript object
+  // so axios can properly serialize it. This includes standard application/json
+  // and vendor-specific JSON media types (for example those with a +json suffix
+  // or subtypes whose names end with "json" or "-json").
+  if (request.body.contentType) {
+    const mimeType = request.body.contentType.split(";")[0].trim().toLowerCase();
+
+    if (
+      mimeType === "application/json" ||
+      mimeType.endsWith("+json") ||
+      mimeType.endsWith("/json") ||
+      mimeType.endsWith("-json")
+    ) {
+    const envResult = parseBodyEnvVariablesE(request.body.body, resolvedVariables);
+
+    if (E.isLeft(envResult)) {
+      return E.left(
+        error({
+          code: "PARSING_ERROR",
+          data: `${request.body.body} (${envResult.left})`,
+        })
+      );
+    }
+
+    const bodyString = envResult.right;
+
+    // If the body string is empty or null, return null
+    if (!bodyString || S.isEmpty(bodyString.trim())) {
+      return E.right(null);
+    }
+
+    // Strip comments and trailing commas from JSONC
+    // This ensures collections with comments work the same in CLI as in desktop app
+    const cleanedBody = stripComments(bodyString);
+
+    // Try to parse the JSON body
+    try {
+      const parsedBody = JSON.parse(cleanedBody);
+      return E.right(JSON.stringify(parsedBody));
+    } catch (err) {
+      // If parsing fails after stripping comments, return error to provide
+      // immediate feedback instead of sending invalid JSON to the API.
+      // Use original template string to avoid leaking secrets from env vars.
+      return E.left(
+        error({
+          code: "PARSING_ERROR",
+          data: `${request.body.body} (Invalid JSON in request body: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)})`,
+        })
+      );
+    }
+    }
+  }
   return pipe(
     parseBodyEnvVariablesE(request.body.body, resolvedVariables),
     E.mapLeft((e) =>

packages/hoppscotch-common/src/helpers/editor/linting/jsonc.ts

@@ -33,8 +33,7 @@ class InvalidJSONCNodeError extends Error {
 // NOTE: If we choose to export this function, do refactor it to return a result discriminated union instead of throwing
 /**
  * @throws {InvalidJSONCNodeError} if the node is in an invalid configuration
- * @returns The JSON string without comments and trailing commas or null
- * if the conversion failed
+ * @returns The JSON string without comments and trailing commas
  */
 function convertNodeToJSON(node: Node): string {
   switch (node.type) {
@@ -69,8 +68,11 @@ function convertNodeToJSON(node: Node): string {
 
       const [keyNode, valueNode] = node.children
 
+      // Use keyNode.value instead of keyNode to avoid circular references.
+      // Attempting to JSON.stringify(keyNode) directly would throw
+      // "Converting circular structure to JSON" error.
       // If the valueNode configuration is wrong, this will return an error, which will propagate up
-      return `${JSON.stringify(keyNode)}:${convertNodeToJSON(valueNode)}`
+      return `${JSON.stringify(keyNode.value)}:${convertNodeToJSON(valueNode)}`
   }
 }
 
@@ -100,7 +102,7 @@ function stripCommentsAndCommas(text: string): string {
  */
 
 export function stripComments(jsonString: string) {
-  return stripCommentsAndCommas(stripComments_(jsonString))
+  return stripCommentsAndCommas(stripComments_(jsonString) ?? jsonString)
 }
 
 export default linter

pnpm-lock.yaml

@@ -415,6 +415,9 @@ importers:
       js-md5:
         specifier: 0.8.3
         version: 0.8.3
+      jsonc-parser:
+        specifier: 3.3.1
+        version: 3.3.1
       lodash-es:
         specifier: 4.17.22
         version: 4.17.22