bug: `yq` formatter uses unexpected argument

[redbeardymcgee]

Neovim version (nvim -v)

nvim 0.11.5

Operating system/version

nixos 25.11

Read debugging tips

• I have read through the debugging tips.

Add the debug logs

• I have set log_level = vim.log.levels.DEBUG and pasted the log contents below.

Log file

          2025-12-14 17:02:57[ERROR] Formatter 'yq' error: jq: Unknown option -P
          Use jq --help for help with command-line options,
          or see the jq manpage, or online docs  at https://jqlang.org

Describe the bug

The option -P does not exist in either yq or jq.

What is the severity of this bug?

blocking (cannot use plugin)

Steps To Reproduce

format a yaml file with yq.

Expected Behavior

File is formatted.

Minimal example file

## https://github.com/slskd/slskd/blob/master/config/slskd.example.yml

Minimal init.lua

-- DO NOT change the paths and don't remove the colorscheme
local root = vim.fn.fnamemodify("./.repro", ":p")

-- set stdpaths to use .repro
for _, name in ipairs({ "config", "data", "state", "cache" }) do
  vim.env[("XDG_%s_HOME"):format(name:upper())] = root .. "/" .. name
end

-- bootstrap lazy
local lazypath = root .. "/plugins/lazy.nvim"
if not vim.loop.fs_stat(lazypath) then
  vim.fn.system({
    "git",
    "clone",
    "--filter=blob:none",
    "--single-branch",
    "https://github.com/folke/lazy.nvim.git",
    lazypath,
  })
end
vim.opt.runtimepath:prepend(lazypath)

-- install plugins
local plugins = {
  "folke/tokyonight.nvim",
  {
    "stevearc/conform.nvim",
    config = function()
      require("conform").setup({
        log_level = vim.log.levels.DEBUG,
        -- add your config here
      })
    end,
  },
  -- add any other plugins here
}
require("lazy").setup(plugins, {
  root = root .. "/plugins",
})

vim.cmd.colorscheme("tokyonight")
-- add anything else here

Additional context

I cannot find any -P option in either yq or jq with their help or manpages. It's possible I've overlooked it somewhere, but that seems unlikely since the option is not documented anywhere. I'm not even sure what the option is meant to support, so I don't know if it's just a typo. -p (lower-case) also does not exist. Was this option deprecated or removed?

[redbeardymcgee]

I don't think the empty - is valid either. I'm curious if there is another yq implementation that the original formatter PR was written against #288

EDIT: Found at least 2 differing implementations.

https://github.com/kislyuk/yq written in python, not correct for the conform formatter currently defined
https://github.com/mikefarah/yq written in go, appears to be the tool against which #288 was implemented