diff --git a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Utils/Text.hs b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Utils/Text.hs
index cabe127a1..c4bf0b393 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/Hledger/Utils/Text.hs
+++ b/hledger-lib/Hledger/Utils/Text.hs
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ module Hledger.Utils.Text
   stripquotes,
  -- isSingleQuoted,
  -- isDoubleQuoted,
+  jsonPrettyText,
  -- -- * single-line layout
   textstrip,
   textlstrip,
@@ -59,6 +60,8 @@ module Hledger.Utils.Text
   )
 where
 
+import Data.Aeson (Value)
+import Data.Aeson.Encode.Pretty (encodePrettyToTextBuilder)
 -- import Data.Char
 import Data.List
 #if !(MIN_VERSION_base(4,11,0))
@@ -66,6 +69,8 @@ import Data.Monoid
 #endif
 import Data.Text (Text)
 import qualified Data.Text as T
+import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as TL
+import Data.Text.Lazy.Builder (toLazyText)
 -- import Text.Parsec
 -- import Text.Printf (printf)
 
@@ -78,6 +83,10 @@ import Hledger.Utils.Test
 -- lowercase = map toLower
 -- uppercase = map toUpper
 
+-- | Pretty-print a JSON value.
+jsonPrettyText :: Value -> TL.Text
+jsonPrettyText = toLazyText . encodePrettyToTextBuilder
+
 -- | Remove leading and trailing whitespace.
 textstrip :: Text -> Text
 textstrip = textlstrip . textrstrip
diff --git a/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal b/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal
index 1e0fc15ea..26591681e 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal
+++ b/hledger-lib/hledger-lib.cabal
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ cabal-version: 1.12
 --
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 --
--- hash: f5d891a2f435cece44dd66f1ca32e8e55fde986a4129a443d3de60ab6f65b5e3
+-- hash: d8c943c6b632e6b0cf34a564809ef96869541c54de93613e7103ec87fadb4e33
 
 name:           hledger-lib
 version:        1.17.99
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ library
       Decimal >=0.5.1
     , Glob >=0.9
     , aeson
+    , aeson-pretty
     , ansi-terminal >=0.6.2.3
     , array
     , base >=4.9 && <4.15
@@ -162,6 +163,7 @@ test-suite doctest
       Decimal >=0.5.1
     , Glob >=0.7
     , aeson
+    , aeson-pretty
     , ansi-terminal >=0.6.2.3
     , array
     , base >=4.9 && <4.15
@@ -216,6 +218,7 @@ test-suite unittest
       Decimal >=0.5.1
     , Glob >=0.9
     , aeson
+    , aeson-pretty
     , ansi-terminal >=0.6.2.3
     , array
     , base >=4.9 && <4.15
diff --git a/hledger-lib/package.yaml b/hledger-lib/package.yaml
index 3f4822cee..7da186bd6 100644
--- a/hledger-lib/package.yaml
+++ b/hledger-lib/package.yaml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ dependencies:
 - base >=4.9 && <4.15
 - base-compat-batteries >=0.10.1 && <0.12
 - aeson
+- aeson-pretty
 - ansi-terminal >=0.6.2.3
 - array
 - blaze-markup >=0.5.1