JSON Formatter
Paste ugly JSON, get pretty JSON. The classics never die.
What this does
You've got messy JSON. Maybe it came from an API response, maybe someone copy-pasted a config file into Slack, maybe a log line spit out a single unreadable blob. Paste it, hit Format, and get clean 2-space indentation. The default is 2 spaces because that's what most style guides settled on, and we're not here to restart that argument.
Minify does the opposite. It strips every space, newline, and indent to give you the smallest possible payload. Useful when you're stuffing JSON into a query parameter, a cURL command, or anywhere that extra bytes cost you. Format for reading, minify for shipping.
Validate catches the stuff that makes parsers throw. Missing commas between properties, trailing commas that JSON doesn't allow (unlike JavaScript, which is fine with them), mismatched brackets, unquoted keys, single quotes instead of double quotes. JSON is pickier than people remember, and the error messages here will point you to the problem instead of just saying "unexpected token."
This gets real use during API debugging. You're staring at a response body and need to find one nested field three levels deep. Formatted JSON with indentation makes that a visual scan instead of a character-counting exercise. Same thing with config files: Kubernetes manifests, package.json, Terraform state. If you're reviewing a diff in version control, consistent formatting means the diff shows actual changes, not whitespace noise.
For large JSON (we're talking megabytes), the tool debounces input so your browser doesn't freeze mid-paste. But if you're working with genuinely massive files, the Download button is your friend. It's faster to format and save than to scroll through 50,000 lines in a textarea.
Everything runs in your browser. There's no server, no upload, no API call. Your API responses, config files, and accidentally-committed secrets stay on your machine. Copy grabs the output. Clear resets both panes. Paste something else. That's the whole workflow.