> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://site.aspect.build/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Json `function` **encode**

        
          def encode(
          x: typing.Any,
          /,
          \*,
          indent: int = ...
          ) -> str

Encode a value to a JSON string. Mirrors the Starlark stdlib's `json.encode`, with an additional optional `indent` parameter: pass a non-negative integer to pretty-print the output with that many spaces of indentation per nesting level (newlines inserted between elements). Omitting `indent` produces the stdlib's compact single-line form. `function` **decode**

        
          def decode(
          x: str,
          /
          ) -> typing.Any

Decode a JSON string. Raises on parse failure. Mirrors the Starlark stdlib's `json.decode`. Use `try_decode` instead at I/O boundaries where a malformed input would otherwise crash the caller. `function` **try\_decode**

              
          def try\_decode(
          x: str,
          default: typing.Any = ...,
          /
          ) -> typing.Any

Decode a JSON string. Returns `default` (None by default) on parse failure instead of raising. Distinguishing "parse failed" from "valid `null` parse": both produce None unless the caller passes a sentinel `default`. # Examples ```python theme={null} json.try_decode('{"a": 1}') # {"a": 1} json.try_decode("not json") # None json.try_decode("not json", {}) # {} json.try_decode("null") # None (valid parse) json.try_decode("null", "MISS") # None (still valid; not the sentinel) ```