diff --git a/include/libwebsockets/lws-misc.h b/include/libwebsockets/lws-misc.h
index f71158ab4..e9185504f 100644
--- a/include/libwebsockets/lws-misc.h
+++ b/include/libwebsockets/lws-misc.h
@@ -180,6 +180,68 @@ lws_strncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t size);
 	lws_strncpy(dest, src, (size_t)(size1 + 1) < (size_t)(destsize) ? \
 				(size_t)(size1 + 1) : (size_t)(destsize))
 
+/**
+ * lws_nstrstr(): like strstr for length-based strings without terminating NUL
+ *
+ * \param buf: the string to search
+ * \param len: the length of the string to search
+ * \param name: the substring to search for
+ * \param nl: the length of name
+ *
+ * Returns NULL if \p name is not present in \p buf.  Otherwise returns the
+ * address of the first instance of \p name in \p buf.
+ *
+ * Neither buf nor name need to be NUL-terminated.
+ */
+LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN const char *
+lws_nstrstr(const char *buf, size_t len, const char *name, size_t nl);
+
+/**
+ * lws_json_simple_find(): dumb JSON string parser
+ *
+ * \param buf: the JSON to search
+ * \param len: the length of the JSON to search
+ * \param name: the name field to search the JSON for, eg, "\"myname\":"
+ * \param alen: set to the length of the argument part if non-NULL return
+ *
+ * Either returns NULL if \p name is not present in buf, or returns a pointer
+ * to the argument body of the first instance of \p name, and sets *alen to the
+ * length of the argument body.
+ *
+ * This can cheaply handle fishing out, eg, myarg from {"myname": "myarg"} by
+ * searching for "\"myname\":".  It will return a pointer to myarg and set *alen
+ * to 5.  It equally handles args like "myname": true, or "myname":false, and
+ * null or numbers are all returned as delimited strings.
+ *
+ * Anything more complicated like the value is a subobject or array, you should
+ * parse it using a full parser like lejp.  This is suitable is the JSON is
+ * and will remain short and simple, and contains well-known names amongst other
+ * extensible JSON members.
+ */
+LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN const char *
+lws_json_simple_find(const char *buf, size_t len, const char *name, size_t *alen);
+
+/**
+ * lws_json_simple_strcmp(): dumb JSON string comparison
+ *
+ * \param buf: the JSON to search
+ * \param len: the length of the JSON to search
+ * \param name: the name field to search the JSON for, eg, "\"myname\":"
+ * \param comp: return a strcmp of this and the discovered argument
+ *
+ * Helper that combines lws_json_simple_find() with strcmp() if it was found.
+ * If the \p name was not found, returns -1.  Otherwise returns a strcmp()
+ * between what was found and \p comp, ie, return 0 if they match or something
+ * else if they don't.
+ *
+ * If the JSON is relatively simple and you want to target constrained
+ * devices, this can be a good choice.  If the JSON may be complex, you
+ * should use a full JSON parser.
+ */
+LWS_VISIBLE LWS_EXTERN int
+lws_json_simple_strcmp(const char *buf, size_t len, const char *name, const char *comp);
+
+
 /**
  * lws_hex_to_byte_array(): convert hex string like 0123456789ab into byte data
  *
diff --git a/lib/core/libwebsockets.c b/lib/core/libwebsockets.c
index adecc1c38..d034fe79d 100644
--- a/lib/core/libwebsockets.c
+++ b/lib/core/libwebsockets.c
@@ -345,6 +345,117 @@ lws_strdup(const char *s)
 	return d;
 }
 
+const char *
+lws_nstrstr(const char *buf, size_t len, const char *name, size_t nl)
+{
+	const char *end = buf + len - nl + 1;
+	size_t n;
+
+	if (nl > len)
+		/* it cannot be found if the needle is longer than the haystack */
+		return NULL;
+
+	while (buf < end) {
+		if (*buf != name[0]) {
+			buf++;
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		if (nl == 1)
+			/* single char match, we are done */
+			return buf;
+
+		if (buf[nl - 1] == name[nl - 1]) {
+			/*
+			 * This is looking interesting then... the first
+			 * and last chars match, let's check the insides
+			 */
+			n = 1;
+			while (n < nl && buf[n] == name[n])
+				n++;
+
+			if (n == nl)
+				/* it's a hit */
+				return buf;
+		}
+
+		buf++;
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/*
+ * name wants to be something like "\"myname\":"
+ */
+
+const char *
+lws_json_simple_find(const char *buf, size_t len, const char *name, size_t *alen)
+{
+	size_t nl = strlen(name);
+	const char *np = lws_nstrstr(buf, len, name, nl),
+		   *end = buf + len, *as;
+	int qu = 0;
+
+	if (!np)
+		return NULL;
+
+	np += nl;
+
+	while (np < end && (*np == ' ' || *np == '\t'))
+		np++;
+
+	if (np >= end - 1)
+		return NULL;
+
+	/*
+	 * The arg could be lots of things after "name": with JSON, commonly a
+	 * string like "mystring", true, false, null, [...] or {...} ... we want
+	 * to handle common, simple cases cheaply with this; the user can choose
+	 * a full JSON parser like lejp if it's complicated.  So if no opening
+	 * quote, return until a terminator like , ] }.  If there's an opening
+	 * quote, return until closing quote, handling escaped quotes.
+	 */
+
+	if (*np == '\"') {
+		qu = 1;
+		np++;
+	}
+
+	as = np;
+	while (np < end &&
+	       (!qu || *np != '\"') && /* end quote is EOT if quoted */
+	       (qu || (*np != '}' && *np != ']' && *np != ',')) /* delimiters */
+	) {
+		if (qu && *np == '\\') /* skip next char if quoted escape */
+			np++;
+		np++;
+	}
+
+	if (np == end)
+		return NULL;
+
+	*alen = lws_ptr_diff(np, as);
+
+	return as;
+}
+
+int
+lws_json_simple_strcmp(const char *buf, size_t len, const char *name,
+		       const char *comp)
+{
+	size_t al;
+	const char *hit = lws_json_simple_find(buf, len, name, &al);
+
+	if (!hit)
+		return -1;
+
+	if (al != strlen(comp))
+		return -1;
+
+	return strncmp(hit, comp, al);
+}
+
 static const char *hex = "0123456789ABCDEF";
 
 const char *
diff --git a/minimal-examples/api-tests/api-test-lws_tokenize/main.c b/minimal-examples/api-tests/api-test-lws_tokenize/main.c
index 7682ede1f..e6d26d63c 100644
--- a/minimal-examples/api-tests/api-test-lws_tokenize/main.c
+++ b/minimal-examples/api-tests/api-test-lws_tokenize/main.c
@@ -417,6 +417,73 @@ int main(int argc, const char **argv)
 		return 1;
 	}
 
+	/* sanity check lws_nstrstr() */
+
+	{
+		static const char *t1 = "abc123456";
+		const char *mcp;
+
+		mcp = lws_nstrstr(t1, strlen(t1), "abc", 3);
+		if (mcp != t1) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_nstrstr 1 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		mcp = lws_nstrstr(t1, strlen(t1), "def", 3);
+		if (mcp != NULL) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_nstrstr 2 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		mcp = lws_nstrstr(t1, strlen(t1), "456", 3);
+		if (mcp != t1 + 6) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_nstrstr 3 failed: %p\n", __func__, mcp);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		mcp = lws_nstrstr(t1, strlen(t1), "1", 1);
+		if (mcp != t1 + 3) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_nstrstr 4 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		mcp = lws_nstrstr(t1, strlen(t1), "abc1234567", 10);
+		if (mcp != NULL) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_nstrstr 5 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/* sanity check lws_json_simple_find() */
+
+	{
+		static const char *t1 = "{\"myname1\":true,"
+					 "\"myname2\":\"string\", "
+					 "\"myname3\": 123}";
+		size_t alen;
+		const char *mcp;
+
+		mcp = lws_json_simple_find(t1, strlen(t1), "\"myname1\":", &alen);
+		if (mcp != t1 + 11 || alen != 4) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_json_simple_find 1 failed: (%d) %s\n", __func__, (int)alen, mcp);
+			return 1;
+		}
+
+		mcp = lws_json_simple_find(t1, strlen(t1), "\"myname2\":", &alen);
+		if (mcp != t1 + 27 || alen != 6) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_json_simple_find 2 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+
+		mcp = lws_json_simple_find(t1, strlen(t1), "\"myname3\":", &alen);
+		if (mcp != t1 + 47 || alen != 3) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_json_simple_find 3 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+
+		mcp = lws_json_simple_find(t1, strlen(t1), "\"nope\":", &alen);
+		if (mcp != NULL) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: lws_json_simple_find 4 failed\n", __func__);
+			return 1;
+		}
+	}
+
 	p = lws_cmdline_option(argc, argv, "-s");
 
 	for (n = 0; n < (int)LWS_ARRAY_SIZE(tests); n++) {