RFC 7396 · PROPOSED STANDARD · 2014
WED · 29 JUL 2026
JSON Merge Patch
Overview
RFC 7396, “JSON Merge Patch”, is a Proposed Standard document published in October 2014 by P. Hoffman, J. Snell. It obsoletes RFC 7386. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
This specification defines the JSON merge patch format and processing rules. The merge patch format is primarily intended for use with the HTTP PATCH method as a means of describing a set of modifications to a target resource's content.
What “Proposed Standard” means
An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.
Read this RFC
The canonical text of RFC 7396 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.
Relationships to other RFCs
Other RFCs from 2014
- RFC 7395 An Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol Subprotocol for WebSocket
- RFC 7397 Report from the Smart Object Security Workshop
- RFC 7394 Definition of Time to Live TLV for LSP-Ping Mechanisms
- RFC 7393 Using the Port Control Protocol to Update Dynamic DNS
- RFC 7399 Unanswered Questions in the Path Computation Element Architecture
- RFC 7392 Explicit Path Routing for Dynamic Multi-Segment Pseudowires
- RFC 7400 6LoWPAN-GHC: Generic Header Compression for IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks
- RFC 7391 Forwarding and Control Element Separation Protocol Extensions