What is a JSON viewer?

A JSON viewer turns valid JSON text into an interactive tree. Objects and arrays become expandable branches, while strings, numbers, booleans, and null appear as leaf values. This structure makes deeply nested API responses, configuration data, and exported records easier to inspect without tracing braces and indentation by hand.

This viewer is read-only. It helps you understand a document’s structure without changing its keys, values, or ordering.

How to view JSON as a tree

Paste a strict JSON document into the input editor, or select Example.
Select View JSON to validate the input and build the tree.
Expand or collapse individual objects and arrays to inspect nested values.
Use Expand or Collapse to change the entire tree, and copy a node’s JSON Pointer or original value when needed.

If the input is invalid, the viewer keeps the original text and reports the relevant line and column. Select a diagnostic to move the editor to that location.

JSON viewer example

The built-in example contains strings, a number, a boolean, an array, and a nested object:

{
  "project": "Bitty Coder",
  "active": true,
  "release": 1,
  "tags": ["json", "browser", "developer-tools"],
  "settings": {
    "theme": "system",
    "autosave": false
  }
}

After you select View JSON, the root object is shown with its child count. The tags array and settings object can be opened independently, so unrelated branches can remain collapsed.

Why use a JSON tree view?

A tree view makes the hierarchy visible. You can collapse sections that are not relevant, see whether a field contains an object or an array, and check the size of a collection before opening it. Type badges distinguish values that may look similar in plain text, such as the string "true" and the boolean true.

The viewer initially opens the root and the next level of nested containers. Deeper branches stay collapsed until you need them, which keeps complex documents easier to scan.

JSON viewer vs formatter, validator, and editor

Tool	Primary purpose
JSON Viewer	Browse valid JSON as an expandable, read-only tree.
JSON Formatter	Add indentation and line breaks to JSON text.
JSON Validator	Check strict JSON syntax and review diagnostics without creating another representation.
JSON Editor	Change JSON in code or editable tree form.

Viewing and formatting both make JSON easier to read, but they produce different results. A formatter returns indented JSON text that you can copy or download. A viewer creates an interactive structure for navigation and inspection.

JSON data types in the tree

Each row identifies one of the six JSON value types:

Object: a collection of property names and values.
Array: an ordered list of values.
String: text enclosed in double quotes.
Number: an integer, decimal, or exponent-form number.
Boolean: either true or false.
Null: the literal value null.

Objects show their property count, and arrays show their item count. Primitive values display a compact preview. Long values are shortened in the row without changing the source that is copied.

Viewing large JSON documents

Large documents can contain thousands of nodes. Browse them by expanding only the branches you need; Expand may create many visible rows at once. When the visible tree becomes large, the viewer renders only the rows near the current scroll position.

The tree is built from the original JSON tokens rather than by converting the document with JSON.parse() and JSON.stringify(). Large integers, decimal spelling, exponent notation, property order, array order, and duplicate property tokens therefore remain visible. Duplicate keys also produce compatibility warnings because other software may keep only one of their values.

JSON viewer FAQ

Can a JSON viewer open invalid JSON?

The tree can only be built after the document passes strict JSON syntax validation. Errors include source positions and suggestions where available. Use JSON Repair when you intentionally want common problems such as single quotes, comments, or trailing commas corrected.

What is the difference between a JSON viewer and a JSON formatter?

A viewer displays JSON as an interactive tree for navigation. A formatter returns the same JSON as readable, indented text.

What is a JSON Pointer?

JSON Pointer is a standard path syntax for identifying a value in a JSON document. For example, /users/0/name points to the name property of the first item in users. Property names containing / or ~ are escaped according to the JSON Pointer rules.

Can I copy an object or array from the tree?

Yes. The copy action for a node uses that node’s original source text, so copying an object or array returns the complete JSON substring for that branch.

Does the viewer change large numbers or duplicate keys?

No. The viewer preserves the original number text and keeps duplicate property tokens visible. It reports compatibility warnings instead of silently rewriting the document.

JSON Viewer

JSON input

Structure