As a backend developer, I spend a lot of time working with JSON — API responses, logs, configs, exports.
Over time, I noticed a pattern:
• Many online JSON tools upload data to servers
• Large JSON files become slow or unusable
• Simple conversions (JSON → CSV / YAML) require multiple tools
So I decided to build a small side project for myself — a fast, client-side JSON viewer that runs entirely in the browser.
Key Design Decisions
1. Everything Runs Client-Side
No requests are sent to a server.
This keeps data private and makes the tool extremely fast.
2. Handle Large JSON Gracefully
Instead of rendering everything at once, the viewer:
• Collapses nodes by default
• Renders incrementally
• Avoids blocking the UI thread
3. One Tool, Multiple Utilities
I didn’t want separate tools for every task, so I added:
• JSON validation
• JSON → CSV / Excel / YAML
• CSV → JSON
• JWT decoding
• Base64 encode/decode
What I Learned
• Client-side tools can scale surprisingly well with the right rendering strategy
• Developers value privacy more than flashy UI
• Simplicity beats feature overload
Try It & Feedback
If you’re curious, you can try the tool here:
https://jsonviewertool.com
I’d genuinely love feedback from other developers:
• What would you improve?
• What’s missing?
• Any performance edge cases you’ve hit before?
Thanks for reading 🙌
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