diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b646081d7cc51042c76c49d1921369dd5251f873..a2c73dbfb76a123a8ad91095cdbb9c1ff1450288 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ SRCS = ${SRCDIR}/json.hpp \
 			 ${SRCDIR}/detail/parsing/output_adapters.hpp \
 			 ${SRCDIR}/detail/parsing/binary_reader.hpp \
 			 ${SRCDIR}/detail/parsing/binary_writer.hpp \
-			 ${SRCDIR}/detail/serializer.hpp
+			 ${SRCDIR}/detail/serializer.hpp \
+			 ${SRCDIR}/detail/json_ref.hpp
 
 # main target
 all:
diff --git a/src/detail/json_ref.hpp b/src/detail/json_ref.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ec120c0267a2dc0bee4a0346351ee94995480cef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/detail/json_ref.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+#ifndef NLOHMANN_JSON_DETAIL_JSON_REF_HPP
+#define NLOHMANN_JSON_DETAIL_JSON_REF_HPP
+
+#include <initializer_list>
+#include <utility>
+
+namespace nlohmann
+{
+namespace detail
+{
+template<typename BasicJsonType>
+class json_ref
+{
+  public:
+    using value_type = BasicJsonType;
+
+    json_ref(value_type&& value)
+        : owned_value(std::move(value)), value_ref(&owned_value), is_rvalue(true)
+    {}
+
+    json_ref(const value_type& value)
+        : value_ref(const_cast<value_type*>(&value)), is_rvalue(false)
+    {}
+
+    json_ref(std::initializer_list<json_ref> init)
+        : owned_value(init), value_ref(&owned_value), is_rvalue(true)
+    {}
+
+    template<class... Args>
+    json_ref(Args&& ... args)
+        : owned_value(std::forward<Args>(args)...), value_ref(&owned_value), is_rvalue(true)
+    {}
+
+    // class should be movable only
+    json_ref(json_ref&&) = default;
+    json_ref(const json_ref&) = delete;
+    json_ref& operator=(const json_ref&) = delete;
+
+    value_type moved_or_copied() const
+    {
+        if (is_rvalue)
+        {
+            return std::move(*value_ref);
+        }
+        return *value_ref;
+    }
+
+    value_type const& operator*() const
+    {
+        return *static_cast<value_type const*>(value_ref);
+    }
+
+    value_type const* operator->() const
+    {
+        return static_cast<value_type const*>(value_ref);
+    }
+
+  private:
+    mutable value_type owned_value = nullptr;
+    value_type* value_ref = nullptr;
+    const bool is_rvalue;
+};
+}
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/json.hpp b/src/json.hpp
index d52d6e838972f9c0122c1f7c6e657ebafff3feb0..32051d7e0f844b16b7edcf7b33fc4b02f363a179 100644
--- a/src/json.hpp
+++ b/src/json.hpp
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ SOFTWARE.
 #include "detail/parsing/binary_reader.hpp"
 #include "detail/parsing/binary_writer.hpp"
 #include "detail/serializer.hpp"
+#include "detail/json_ref.hpp"
 
 /*!
 @brief namespace for Niels Lohmann
@@ -77,63 +78,6 @@ SOFTWARE.
 */
 namespace nlohmann
 {
-namespace detail
-{
-template<typename BasicJsonType>
-class json_ref
-{
-  public:
-    using value_type = BasicJsonType;
-
-    json_ref(value_type&& value)
-        : owned_value(std::move(value)), value_ref(&owned_value), is_rvalue(true)
-    {}
-
-    json_ref(const value_type& value)
-        : value_ref(const_cast<value_type*>(&value)), is_rvalue(false)
-    {}
-
-    json_ref(std::initializer_list<json_ref> init)
-        : owned_value(init), value_ref(&owned_value), is_rvalue(true)
-    {}
-
-    template<class... Args>
-    json_ref(Args&& ... args)
-        : owned_value(std::forward<Args>(args)...), value_ref(&owned_value), is_rvalue(true)
-    {}
-
-    // class should be movable only
-    json_ref(json_ref&&) = default;
-    json_ref(const json_ref&) = delete;
-    json_ref& operator=(const json_ref&) = delete;
-
-    value_type moved_or_copied() const
-    {
-        if (is_rvalue)
-        {
-            return std::move(*value_ref);
-        }
-        return *value_ref;
-    }
-
-    value_type const& operator*() const
-    {
-        return *static_cast<value_type const*>(value_ref);
-    }
-
-    value_type const* operator->() const
-    {
-        return static_cast<value_type const*>(value_ref);
-    }
-
-  private:
-    mutable value_type owned_value = nullptr;
-    value_type* value_ref = nullptr;
-    const bool is_rvalue;
-};
-
-} // namespace detail
-
 template<typename, typename>
 struct adl_serializer
 {