export interface MergeResult {
    status: 'written' | 'unchanged';
    /** true when the file did not exist before */
    created: boolean;
    backupPath?: string;
}
export declare function deepEqual(a: unknown, b: unknown): boolean;
/** Deep-sets value at path, creating intermediate objects; leaves everything else untouched. */
export declare function setAtPath(obj: Record<string, unknown>, path: string[], value: unknown): void;
export declare function getAtPath(obj: Record<string, unknown>, path: string[]): unknown;
/**
 * Merges `value` into the JSON file at `jsonPath`, preserving all unrelated
 * keys. Missing file starts from {}. A pre-existing file is backed up to
 * `<file>.bak` before being modified. Writes are atomic (tmp + rename); new
 * files are created with mode 0600, existing files keep their mode.
 * Throws (without touching the file) when the existing content is not valid JSON.
 */
export declare function mergeJsonFile(file: string, jsonPath: string[], value: unknown): MergeResult;
/** Same atomic tmp+rename pattern as lib/config.ts saveConfig. */
export declare function writeFileAtomic(file: string, content: string, mode: number): void;
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