goini: Stop Writing Bash to Parse .ini Files

I built goenv because I was tired of writing fragile shell one-liners to work with .env files. The same problem existed with .ini files — and goini is the same answer applied there.

If you've ever written something like this in a pipeline:

grep -A 5 "^\[default\]" config.ini | grep "^user" | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d ' '

...you know exactly why this tool exists. That breaks the moment someone adds a comment, changes indentation, or reorders keys. It's archaeology, not automation.

goini is a compiled CLI binary that lets you read, write, validate and export .ini files from your pipeline scripts. Every operation either succeeds at exit code 0 or fails at exit code 1. That makes it composable. You can gate deployments on it. You can use it in an if statement. It behaves like a Unix citizen.

The source is at github.com/andreimerlescu/goini.

Installation

go install github.com/andreimerlescu/goini@latest

Or grab the binary directly:

curl -sL https://github.com/andreimerlescu/goini/releases/download/v1.0.0/goini-linux-amd64 \
     --output /tmp/goini
chmod +x /tmp/goini
sudo mv /tmp/goini /usr/local/bin/goini
which goini

The Sample File

Every example below operates against this sample.ini:

[default]
user = Yeshua
key = 369
port = 1776
country = ISRAEL

[extra]
ssh_key = ~/.ssh/id_rsa
ssh_key_pub = ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Two sections. A handful of keys. Simple on purpose — the point is showing what goini can do with it, not the data.

Validating With Exit Codes

This is the core use case for pipeline work. You don't need stdout. You need a binary answer: does this thing exist or not, and did it match or not.

Does a Section Have a Key?

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -has-section-key user
echo $?  # 0 — key 'user' exists in 'default'

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -has-section-key non_existent_key
echo $?  # 1 — key doesn't exist

Does a Key Have a Specific Value?

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -key user -has-section-key-value Yeshua
echo $?  # 0

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -key user -has-section-key-value No
echo $?  # 1

Are Multiple Sections All Present?

goini -ini sample.ini -are-sections-present default,extra
echo $?  # 0 — both sections exist

goini -ini sample.ini -are-sections-present default,non_existent_section
echo $?  # 1 — one is missing

Does a Section Exist?

goini -ini sample.ini -has-section default
echo $?  # 0

goini -ini sample.ini -has-section ghost
echo $?  # 1

Reading With STDOUT

When you need to pull data out of the file and feed it downstream, these are your commands.

List All Sections

goini -ini sample.ini -sections
# default
# extra

goini -ini sample.ini -sections -csv
# default,extra

goini -ini sample.ini -sections -json
# [
#   "default",
#   "extra"
# ]

goini -ini sample.ini -sections -yaml
# - default
# - extra

List Keys in a Section

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -list-keys
# user
# key
# port
# country

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -list-keys -json
# [
#   "user",
#   "key",
#   "port",
#   "country"
# ]

List Key-Value Pairs in a Section

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -list-key-values
# user = Yeshua
# key = 369
# port = 1776
# country = ISRAEL

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -list-key-values -json
# {
#   "country": "ISRAEL",
#   "key": "369",
#   "port": "1776",
#   "user": "Yeshua"
# }

Writing to the File

Add a New Section

goini -ini sample.ini -add-section new_section
echo $?  # 0 — section added

# Try to add the same section again
goini -ini sample.ini -add-section new_section
echo $?  # 1 — already exists, refused

This is idempotency by design. goini won't silently create a duplicate. It fails loudly so your pipeline knows something unexpected happened.

Add a Key to a Section

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -key new_setting -value 123 -add-key
echo $?  # 0 — new_setting=123 added to [default]

# Try to add a key that already exists
goini -ini sample.ini -section default -key user -value something -add-key
echo $?  # 1 — key already exists, refused

Again — it won't overwrite. If you need to change an existing value, that's what -modify-key is for.

Modify an Existing Key

goini -ini sample.ini -section default -key user -value NewUserValue -modify-key
echo $?  # 0 — user updated to NewUserValue in [default]

# Try to modify a key that doesn't exist
goini -ini sample.ini -section default -key non_existent_key -value some_value -modify-key
echo $?  # 1 — key doesn't exist, refused

The distinction between -add-key and -modify-key is intentional and important. You can't accidentally overwrite with add. You can't accidentally create with modify. They're separate operations with separate failure modes.

Real Pipeline Examples

Validating a Service Configuration Before Deploy

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

CONFIG="infra/service.ini"

echo "==> Validating ${CONFIG}..."

# Required sections must exist
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -are-sections-present database,cache,api \
    || { echo "ERROR: missing required sections in ${CONFIG}"; exit 1; }

# Required keys must exist in each section
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -has-section-key host \
    || { echo "ERROR: database.host is required"; exit 1; }

goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -has-section-key port \
    || { echo "ERROR: database.port is required"; exit 1; }

goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section api -has-section-key base_url \
    || { echo "ERROR: api.base_url is required"; exit 1; }

# Assert environment is correct before touching production
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section api -key environment -has-section-key-value staging \
    || { echo "ERROR: api.environment must be 'staging'"; exit 1; }

echo "==> Validation passed."

Bootstrapping a Fresh Config File

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

CONFIG="deploy.ini"

# Add sections — each will fail if already present, which is fine
# because set -euo pipefail would catch it; use || true if idempotency is needed
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -add-section app    || true
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -add-section database || true
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -add-section cache  || true

# Populate app section
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section app -key name    -value "payments"   -add-key || true
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section app -key version -value "$(cat VERSION)" -add-key || true
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section app -key env     -value "staging"    -add-key || true

# Populate database section
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -key host    -value "db.internal" -add-key || true
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -key port    -value "5432"         -add-key || true
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -key name    -value "payments_db"  -add-key || true

# Verify it all landed
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section app -list-key-values
goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -list-key-values

Promoting Config From Staging to Production

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

STAGING="config.staging.ini"
PROD="config.production.ini"

echo "==> Promoting ${STAGING} → ${PROD}..."

# Verify staging has what we expect before promoting
goini -ini "${STAGING}" -section app -key env -has-section-key-value staging \
    || { echo "ERROR: source must be staging"; exit 1; }

# Flip the environment value in production
goini -ini "${PROD}" -section app -key env -value production -modify-key \
    || { echo "ERROR: failed to set env=production"; exit 1; }

# Confirm
goini -ini "${PROD}" -section app -key env -has-section-key-value production \
    && echo "==> Promotion complete." \
    || { echo "ERROR: production env value not confirmed"; exit 1; }

Extracting Values for Use in Other Scripts

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

CONFIG="service.ini"

# Pull values out and assign to shell variables
DB_HOST=$(goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -list-key-values -json \
    | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['host'])")

DB_PORT=$(goini -ini "${CONFIG}" -section database -list-key-values -json \
    | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['port'])")

echo "Connecting to ${DB_HOST}:${DB_PORT}"

GitHub Actions

name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install goini
        run: |
          curl -sL https://github.com/andreimerlescu/goini/releases/download/v1.0.0/goini-linux-amd64 \
               --output /usr/local/bin/goini
          chmod +x /usr/local/bin/goini

      - name: Validate config
        run: |
          goini -ini config/service.ini -are-sections-present app,database,cache || exit 1
          goini -ini config/service.ini -section app -has-section-key version     || exit 1
          goini -ini config/service.ini -section app -key env -has-section-key-value staging || exit 1

      - name: Deploy
        run: ./scripts/deploy.sh

GitLab CI

stages:
  - validate
  - deploy

validate_config:
  stage: validate
  image: golang:1.22
  before_script:
    - curl -sL https://github.com/andreimerlescu/goini/releases/download/v1.0.0/goini-linux-amd64
           --output /usr/local/bin/goini
    - chmod +x /usr/local/bin/goini
  script:
    - goini -ini config/service.ini -are-sections-present app,database || exit 1
    - goini -ini config/service.ini -section database -has-section-key host || exit 1
    - goini -ini config/service.ini -section app -key env -has-section-key-value staging || exit 1

Complete Flag Reference

Flag	Type	Description
`-ini`	string	Required. Path to the `.ini` file
`-section`	string	Section name for scoped operations
`-sections`	bool	List all sections in the file
`-add-section`	string	Add a new section. Fails if already present
`-has-section`	string	Exit 0 if section exists, 1 if not
`-has-section-key`	string	Exit 0 if key exists in `-section`
`-has-section-key-value`	string	Exit 0 if key in `-section` equals this value. Requires `-key`
`-are-sections-present`	string	Comma-separated list. Exit 0 if all present
`-key`	string	Key name for value operations
`-value`	string	Value for write or comparison operations
`-add-key`	bool	Add `-key`=`-value` to `-section`. Fails if key exists
`-modify-key`	bool	Update existing `-key` in `-section`. Fails if key absent
`-list-keys`	bool	Print all keys in `-section` to stdout
`-list-key-values`	bool	Print all key=value pairs in `-section` to stdout
`-csv`	bool	Output as CSV
`-json`	bool	Output as JSON
`-yaml`	bool	Output as YAML

A Few Things Worth Knowing

-add-key and -modify-key are intentionally separate. You can't accidentally overwrite an existing value with -add-key — it refuses. You can't accidentally create a new key with -modify-key — it refuses. They each have one job and one failure mode. That's the point.

-add-section is idempotent-safe. Adding a section that already exists exits with code 1. In a pipeline where you need true idempotency, pipe it with || true. In a pipeline where you want to catch unexpected state, let it fail.

-are-sections-present takes a comma-separated list. All sections must be present for exit code 0. One missing section fails the whole check.

Output format flags work with read operations. -csv, -json, and -yaml apply to -sections, -list-keys, and -list-key-values. They don't apply to write operations — those just use the exit code.

Every write operation reads the file, modifies the result in memory, and writes it back. There's no in-place line editing. This means the file that comes out is clean and predictable regardless of what formatting the original had.

The source and releases are at github.com/andreimerlescu/goini. Apache 2.0.

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