About JSON Lover

This is a small static site I put up so I could dump JSON into a tab, tidy it, and click around nested objects without installing another desktop app. There is no login and no server that stores what you paste. Format, Minify, Auto Fix, tree view, and Compare all run in the page. Auto Fix is jsonrepair from a CDN, not a homemade parser.

The editor is on the home page. If you want the longer write-ups (including how JSON got invented), they live under Guides.

Pages worth reading

• Learn JSON — Crockford, json.org, the RFCs, and why we still ship application/json everywhere
• Format and minify — four spaces, on purpose, because that is what the browser’s JSON.stringify does here
• Fix invalid JSON — trailing commas and comments from config files
• Tree view — click a node, copy the value from the side panel
• Compare — two textareas, not a git diff

What the buttons actually do

Format parses whatever is in the box and prints it with four-space indents. Minify is the same parse, then one long line. If the text is not JSON, the red status row under the editor tells you; we do not overwrite your paste.

Auto Fix is for the messy stuff people copy out of JavaScript or VS Code JSONC: extra commas, // comments, keys without quotes. It is not a mind reader. If the file is half downloaded or it is YAML, you still have to look at the result.

Tree View hides the textareas and builds nested <details> from the parsed object. Huge files make the DOM unhappy — that is a browser limit, not a fake “unlimited” claim. Compare splits the editor. Format/Minify/Fix then hit both sides in one click, which is handy and also easy to miss if you only wanted to touch the left pane.

Privacy, in one paragraph

I do not get a copy of your JSON. Ads on the guide pages go through Google; the editor page does not load AdSense. Details are on the privacy policy.

Odds and ends people ask

Is it free? Yes. No account.

Mobile? The layout works on a phone. Editing a 5 MB blob on a small screen is miserable; that is on the device, not a secret desktop-only mode.

How big? Whatever RAM the tab can stand. A few megabytes is routine. Tens of megabytes in tree view will hitch.

There is no syntax highlighting in the textarea. I never added a highlighter because the tree plus Format was enough for the dumps I was staring at. If that bugs you, Format first and use a real editor for day-long coding.