diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d987aa3..4081c9a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ Helpers
 On top of the [built-in functionality in Handlebars](https://github.com/xp-forge/handlebars), this library includes the following essential helpers:
 
 * `encode`: Performs URL-encoding 
+* `json`: Performs JSON encoding, pretty-printing when given `format=true`.
 * `equals`: Tests arguments for equality
 * `contains`: Tests whether a string or array contains a certain value
 * `size`: Returns string length or array size
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 2bfc13c..a78b21c 100755
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     "xp-forge/frontend": "^7.0 | ^6.0",
     "xp-forge/handlebars": "^10.0 | ^9.3",
     "xp-forge/yaml": "^9.0 | ^8.0 | ^7.0 | ^6.0",
+    "xp-forge/json": "^6.0 | ^5.0",
     "php": ">=7.4.0"
   },
   "require-dev" : {
diff --git a/src/main/php/web/frontend/helpers/Essentials.class.php b/src/main/php/web/frontend/helpers/Essentials.class.php
index 9b58f36..6c4b7e6 100755
--- a/src/main/php/web/frontend/helpers/Essentials.class.php
+++ b/src/main/php/web/frontend/helpers/Essentials.class.php
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 <?php namespace web\frontend\helpers;
 
+use Countable;
+use text\json\{StringOutput, WrappedFormat};
+use util\data\Marshalling;
+
 /** Built-in and automatically loaded essentials */
 class Essentials extends Extension {
 
@@ -8,6 +12,13 @@ public function helpers() {
     yield 'encode' => function($in, $context, $options) {
       return rawurlencode($options[0] ?? '');
     };
+    yield 'json' => function($in, $context, $options) {
+      static $marshalling, $format;
+
+      $s= new StringOutput(($options['format'] ?? false) ? ($format??= new WrappedFormat('  ')) : null);
+      $s->write(($marshalling??= new Marshalling())->marshal($options[0] ?? null));
+      return $s->bytes();
+    };
     yield 'equals' => function($in, $context, $options) {
       return (int)(($options[0] ?? null) === ($options[1] ?? null));
     };
@@ -23,7 +34,7 @@ public function helpers() {
     yield 'size' => function($in, $context, $options) {
       if (!isset($options[0])) {
         return 0;
-      } else if ($options[0] instanceof \Countable || is_array($options[0])) {
+      } else if ($options[0] instanceof Countable || is_array($options[0])) {
         return sizeof($options[0]);
       } else {
         return strlen($options[0]);
diff --git a/src/test/php/web/frontend/unittest/EssentialsTest.class.php b/src/test/php/web/frontend/unittest/EssentialsTest.class.php
index 04eab04..761b1a5 100755
--- a/src/test/php/web/frontend/unittest/EssentialsTest.class.php
+++ b/src/test/php/web/frontend/unittest/EssentialsTest.class.php
@@ -1,9 +1,22 @@
 <?php namespace web\frontend\unittest;
 
+use ArrayIterator, Countable;
 use test\{Assert, Test, Values};
 
 class EssentialsTest extends HandlebarsTest {
 
+  /** @return iterable */
+  private function objects() {
+    yield [['hello' => ['World', true]]];
+    yield [new class() { public $hello= ['World', true]; }];
+  }
+
+  /** @return iterable */
+  private function iterables() {
+    yield [(function() { yield 1; yield 2; yield 3; })()];
+    yield [new ArrayIterator([1, 2, 3])];
+  }
+
   #[Test]
   public function url_encode() {
     Assert::equals(
@@ -12,6 +25,43 @@ public function url_encode() {
     );
   }
 
+  #[Test]
+  public function json_string() {
+    Assert::equals(
+      'let str = "He said \\"hello \\u4e16\\u754c!\\"\\n";',
+      $this->transform('let str = {{&json input}};', ['input' => 'He said "hello 世界!"'."\n"])
+    );
+  }
+
+  #[Test, Values(from: 'objects')]
+  public function json_object($object) {
+    Assert::equals(
+      'let obj = {"hello":["World",true]};',
+      $this->transform('let obj = {{&json input}};', ['input' => $object])
+    );
+  }
+
+  #[Test, Values(from: 'iterables')]
+  public function json_iterable($iterable) {
+    Assert::equals(
+      'let it = [1,2,3];',
+      $this->transform('let it = {{&json input}};', ['input' => $iterable])
+    );
+  }
+
+  #[Test]
+  public function formatted_json() {
+    Assert::equals(
+      "{\n  \"hello\": [\"World\", true]\n}",
+      $this->transform('{{&json input format=true}}', ['input' => ['hello' => ['World', true]]])
+    );
+  }
+
+  #[Test, Values([['</script>', '"<\\/script>"'], ['// END', '"\\/\\/ END"'], [['tag' => '</a>'], '{"tag":"<\\/a>"}']])]
+  public function forward_slashes_escaped($input, $expected) {
+    Assert::equals($expected, $this->transform('{{&json input}}', ['input' => $input]));
+  }
+
   #[Test, Values(['{{equals "A" "A"}}', '{{equals "A" a}}', '{{equals a a}}'])]
   public function are_equal($template) {
     Assert::equals('1', $this->transform($template, ['a' => 'A']));
@@ -44,7 +94,7 @@ public function size($expr, $expected) {
       'test'    => 'Test',
       'numbers' => [1, 2, 3],
       'sizes'   => ['S' => 12.99, 'M' => 13.99],
-      'count'   => new class() implements \Countable { public function count(): int { return 1; } },
+      'count'   => new class() implements Countable { public function count(): int { return 1; } },
       'empty'   => [],
     ]));
   }