Last week I built a tiny JSON ↔ CSV tool - a simple, fast converter with beautify, minify, and small repair helpers.
Nothing huge. Just something I personally wished existed in a cleaner form.
I posted it on Hacker News (Show HN)… and unexpectedly, it took off.
It stayed on the front page for a while and brought 1,000+ developers in a short time.
Seeing so many people use it made me realize something important:
A simple, reliable conversion tool is still something developers really need.
That small boost of encouragement was enough to spark a new idea.
🕵️ Building something on top of the current tool
While the converter solves the quick tasks well,
many developers also deal with situations where the data fails to parse —
and error messages don’t help much.
So I’m building a small intelligent layer on top of the existing tool:
Detective D
A lightweight helper that can:
- point out why a JSON/CSV/XML/YAML file might be failing
- highlight suspicious parts
- explain issues in simple language
- suggest safe repair options
- give confidence hints (“highly likely missing bracket,” etc.)
It’s not replacing the converter.
It’s not shifting away from it.
It’s simply an upgrade for people who want deeper clarity when things break.
The converter stays simple → Detective D adds intelligence.
I'd love to know your experience
If you work with structured data:
What was the reason that my tool got sudden attention and also what do you think of my further approach.
-Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Your input will help shape Detective D into something genuinely useful.
🔗 Here’s the original tiny tool if you’re curious
DatumInt
(Free, no signup.)
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