diff --git a/plugins/jsontools/README.md b/plugins/jsontools/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4faf58b98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/jsontools/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# jsontools
+
+Handy command line tools for dealing with json data.
+
+## Tools
+
+- **pp_json** - pretty prints json
+- **is_json** - returns true if valid json; false otherwise
+- **urlencode_json** - returns a url encoded string for the given json 
+- **urldecode_json** - returns decoded json for the given url encoded string
+
+## Usage
+Usage is simple...just take your json data and pipe it into the appropriate jsontool.
+```sh
+<json data> | <jsontools tool>
+```
+## Examples
+
+##### pp_json
+
+```sh
+# curl json data and pretty print the results
+curl https://coderwall.com/bobwilliams.json | pp_json
+```
+
+##### is_json
+```sh
+# pretty print the contents of an existing json file
+less data.json | is_json
+```
+
+##### urlencode_json
+```sh
+# json data directly from the command line
+echo '{"b":2, "a":1}' | urlencode_json
+```
+
+##### urldecode_json
+```sh
+# url encoded string to decode
+echo '%7B%22b%22:2,%20%22a%22:1%7D%0A' | urldecode_json
+```
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diff --git a/plugins/jsontools/jsontools.plugin.zsh b/plugins/jsontools/jsontools.plugin.zsh
index 7b6f8c585..20d5eb1c9 100644
--- a/plugins/jsontools/jsontools.plugin.zsh
+++ b/plugins/jsontools/jsontools.plugin.zsh
@@ -2,15 +2,38 @@
 # Adds command line aliases useful for dealing with JSON
 
 if [[ $(whence $JSONTOOLS_METHOD) = "" ]]; then
-    JSONTOOLS_METHOD=""
+	JSONTOOLS_METHOD=""
 fi
 
 if [[ $(whence node) != "" && ( "x$JSONTOOLS_METHOD" = "x"  || "x$JSONTOOLS_METHOD" = "xnode" ) ]]; then
-    alias pp_json='node -e "console.log(JSON.stringify(process.argv[1]), null, 4)"'
+	alias pp_json='xargs -0 node -e "console.log(JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(process.argv[1]), null, 4));"'
+	alias is_json='xargs -0 node -e "try {json = JSON.parse(process.argv[1]);} catch (e) { console.log(false); json = null; } if(json) { console.log(true); }"'
+	alias urlencode_json='xargs -0 node -e "console.log(encodeURIComponent(process.argv[1]))"'
+	alias urldecode_json='xargs -0 node -e "console.log(decodeURIComponent(process.argv[1]))"'
 elif [[ $(whence python) != "" && ( "x$JSONTOOLS_METHOD" = "x" || "x$JSONTOOLS_METHOD" = "xpython" ) ]]; then
 	alias pp_json='python -mjson.tool'
+	alias is_json='python -c "
+import json, sys;
+try: 
+	json.loads(sys.stdin.read())
+except ValueError, e: 
+	print False
+else:
+	print True
+sys.exit(0)"'
+	alias urlencode_json='python -c "
+import urllib, json, sys;
+print urllib.quote_plus(sys.stdin.read())
+sys.exit(0)"'
+	alias urldecode_json='python -c "
+import urllib, json, sys;
+print urllib.unquote_plus(sys.stdin.read())
+sys.exit(0)"'
 elif [[ $(whence ruby) != "" && ( "x$JSONTOOLS_METHOD" = "x" || "x$JSONTOOLS_METHOD" = "xruby" ) ]]; then
 	alias pp_json='ruby -e "require \"json\"; require \"yaml\"; puts JSON.parse(STDIN.read).to_yaml"'
+	alias is_json='ruby -e "require \"json\"; begin; JSON.parse(STDIN.read); puts true; rescue Exception => e; puts false; end"'
+	alias urlencode_json='ruby -e "require \"uri\"; puts URI.escape(STDIN.read)"'
+	alias urldecode_json='ruby -e "require \"uri\"; puts URI.unescape(STDIN.read)"'
 fi
 
 unset JSONTOOLS_METHOD
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