diff --git a/safeyaml/jsontoyaml.go b/safeyaml/jsontoyaml.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..57b24bb78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/safeyaml/jsontoyaml.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package safeyaml
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+)
+
+var errClosingArrayDelim = fmt.Errorf("unexpected ']' delimiter")
+var errClosingObjectDelim = fmt.Errorf("unexpected '}' delimiter")
+
+func JSONtoYAML(jsonBytes []byte) (interface{}, error) {
+	dec := json.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(jsonBytes))
+	dec.UseNumber()
+	return tokenizerToYaml(dec)
+}
+
+func tokenizerToYaml(dec *json.Decoder) (interface{}, error) {
+	tok, err := dec.Token()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if tok == nil {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	switch v := tok.(type) {
+	case string:
+		return v, nil
+	case bool:
+		return v, nil
+	case float64:
+		return v, nil
+	case json.Number:
+		if numI, err := v.Int64(); err == nil {
+			return numI, nil
+		}
+		if numF, err := v.Float64(); err == nil {
+			return numF, nil
+		}
+		return v.String(), nil
+	case json.Delim:
+		switch v {
+		case '[':
+			arr := make([]interface{}, 0)
+			for {
+				elem, err := tokenizerToYaml(dec)
+				if err == errClosingArrayDelim {
+					break
+				}
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				arr = append(arr, elem)
+			}
+			return arr, nil
+		case '{':
+			obj := make(yaml.MapSlice, 0)
+			for {
+				objectKeyI, err := tokenizerToYaml(dec)
+				if err == errClosingObjectDelim {
+					break
+				}
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				objectValueI, err := tokenizerToYaml(dec)
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				obj = append(obj, yaml.MapItem{Key: objectKeyI, Value: objectValueI})
+			}
+			return obj, nil
+		case ']':
+			return nil, errClosingArrayDelim
+		case '}':
+			return nil, errClosingObjectDelim
+		default:
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unrecognized delimiter")
+		}
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unrecognized token type %T", tok)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/safeyaml/jsontoyaml_test.go b/safeyaml/jsontoyaml_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2ec19f475
--- /dev/null
+++ b/safeyaml/jsontoyaml_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package safeyaml
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+)
+
+func TestJSONtoYAML(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, test := range []struct {
+		Name string
+		JSON string
+		YAML string
+	}{
+		{
+			Name: "object",
+			JSON: `{"z":"a", "y":"b", "x": 1, "w": 1.2, "v": {"foo": "bar", "baz": "qux"}}`,
+			YAML: "z: a\n\"y\": b\nx: 1\nw: 1.2\nv:\n  foo: bar\n  baz: qux\n",
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "slice",
+			JSON: `["a", 1, {"foo": "bar"}]`,
+			YAML: "- a\n- 1\n- foo: bar\n",
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "empty slice",
+			JSON: `[]`,
+			YAML: "[]\n",
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "empty object",
+			JSON: `{}`,
+			YAML: "{}\n",
+		},
+		{
+			Name: "nil",
+			JSON: `{"foo": null}`,
+			YAML: "foo: null\n",
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(test.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			obj, err := JSONtoYAML([]byte(test.JSON))
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			out, err := yaml.Marshal(obj)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			require.Equal(t, test.YAML, string(out))
+		})
+	}
+}