How to import a JSON file in ECMAScript 6?

Unfortunately, ES6/ES2015 doesn't support loading JSON via the module import syntax. But...

There are many ways you can do it. Depending on your needs, you can either look into how to read files in JavaScript (window.FileReader could be an option if you're running in the browser) or use some other loaders as described in other questions (assuming you are using NodeJS).

IMO simplest way is probably to just put the JSON as a JS object into an ES6 module and export it. That way, you can just import it where you need it.

Also, worth noting if you're using Webpack, importing of JSON files will work by default (since webpack >= v2.0.0).

import config from '../config.json';

If you're using node you can:

const fs = require('fs');

const { config } = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('../config.json'));

OR

const evaluation = require('../config.json');
// evaluation will then contain all props, so evaluation.config
// or you could use:
const { config } = require('../config.json');

Else:

// config.js
{
// json object here
}

// script.js

import { config } from '../config.js';

OR

import * from '../config.json'

Importing JSON using ES modules was submitted as feature to TC39 in mid 2020, and is (at the time of this edit) in stage 3, which is the last stage before being accepted in to the spec (see https://github.com/tc39/proposal-json-modules for more details). Once landed, you will be able to use it as:

import someName from "./some/path/to/your/file.json";

Where someName is effectively the name of the variable for the JS object described by the JSON data. (And of course, note that this imports JavaScript from a JSON source, it does not "import JSON").

If you're using a modern enough bundler (like esbuild or the like) or you're using a recent enough transpiler (like babel) then you can already use this syntax without having to worry about support.

Alternatively, if you have the luxury of ownership of JSON files you can also turn your JSON into valid JS files with a minimum of extra code:

config.js

export default
{
  // my json here...
}

then...

import config from '../config.js'

does not allow import of existing .json files, but does a job.


In TypeScript or using Babel, you can import json file in your code.

// Babel

import * as data from './example.json';
const word = data.name;
console.log(word); // output 'testing'

Reference: https://hackernoon.com/import-json-into-typescript-8d465beded79