diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/api.go b/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
index 98b237915..05718458f 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
@@ -98,9 +98,10 @@ func NewCmdApi(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ApiOptions) error) *cobra.Command
 			original query accepts an %[1]s$endCursor: String%[1]s variable and that it fetches the
 			%[1]spageInfo{ hasNextPage, endCursor }%[1]s set of fields from a collection.
 
-			The %[1]s--filter%[1]s option accepts a query in jq syntax and will print only the resulting
-			values that match the query. This is equivalent to piping the output to %[1]sjq -r%[1]s.
-			To learn more about the query syntax, see: https://stedolan.github.io/jq/manual/v1.6/
+			The %[1]s--jq%[1]s option accepts a query in jq syntax and will print only the resulting
+			values that match the query. This is equivalent to piping the output to %[1]sjq -r%[1]s,
+			but does not require the jq utility to be installed on the system. To learn more
+			about the query syntax, see: https://stedolan.github.io/jq/manual/v1.6/
 
 			With %[1]s--template%[1]s, the provided Go template is rendered using the JSON data as input.
 			For the syntax of Go templates, see: https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/
@@ -209,7 +210,7 @@ func NewCmdApi(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ApiOptions) error) *cobra.Command
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&opts.RequestInputFile, "input", "", "The `file` to use as body for the HTTP request")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&opts.Silent, "silent", false, "Do not print the response body")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&opts.Template, "template", "t", "", "Format the response using a Go template")
-	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&opts.FilterOutput, "filter", "", "Filter fields from the response using jq syntax")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&opts.FilterOutput, "jq", "q", "", "Query to select values from the response using jq syntax")
 	cmd.Flags().DurationVar(&opts.CacheTTL, "cache", 0, "Cache the response, e.g. \"3600s\", \"60m\", \"1h\"")
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go b/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
index 3b2acb6cf..4f65fe8f8 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -108,6 +111,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -128,6 +132,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -148,6 +153,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              true,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -173,6 +179,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -198,6 +205,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -223,6 +231,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -243,6 +252,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            time.Minute * 5,
 				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -263,6 +273,28 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 				Silent:              false,
 				CacheTTL:            0,
 				Template:            "hello {{.name}}",
+				FilterOutput:        "",
+			},
+			wantsErr: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "with jq filter",
+			cli:  "user -q .name",
+			wants: ApiOptions{
+				Hostname:            "",
+				RequestMethod:       "GET",
+				RequestMethodPassed: false,
+				RequestPath:         "user",
+				RequestInputFile:    "",
+				RawFields:           []string(nil),
+				MagicFields:         []string(nil),
+				RequestHeaders:      []string(nil),
+				ShowResponseHeaders: false,
+				Paginate:            false,
+				Silent:              false,
+				CacheTTL:            0,
+				Template:            "",
+				FilterOutput:        ".name",
 			},
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
@@ -301,6 +333,7 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.wants.Silent, opts.Silent)
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.wants.CacheTTL, opts.CacheTTL)
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.wants.Template, opts.Template)
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.wants.FilterOutput, opts.FilterOutput)
 		})
 	}
 }