JSON Prettify API: Complete Developer Guide

Need to make JSON data readable? This guide covers everything about JSON prettification via API, including formatting options, indentation styles, and implementation examples in multiple programming languages.

What is JSON Prettification?

JSON prettification (also called beautification or formatting) is the process of adding whitespace, line breaks, and indentation to JSON data to make it human-readable. This is the opposite of minification.

Before: {"name":"John","age":30}
After:

{
  "name": "John",
  "age": 30
}

Formatting Options

Different formatting styles to choose from:

Indentation

Choose between spaces (2 or 4) or tabs for indentation.

Line Breaks

Control where line breaks appear - after each key-value pair or keeping arrays compact.

Sorting Keys

Optionally sort object keys alphabetically for consistent output.

Using the JSON Prettify API

TinyFn provides a simple endpoint to prettify JSON:

POST https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/format/json-prettify
Headers: X-API-Key: your-api-key
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "json": "{\"name\":\"John\",\"age\":30}",
  "indent": 2
}

{
  "prettified": "{\n  \"name\": \"John\",\n  \"age\": 30\n}",
  "original_size": 24,
  "prettified_size": 35
}

Parameters

Code Examples

JavaScript / Node.js

const minifiedJson = '{"name":"John","age":30}';
const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/format/json-prettify',
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ json: minifiedJson, indent: 2 })
  }
);
const { prettified } = await response.json();
console.log(prettified);
// {
//   "name": "John",
//   "age": 30
// }

Python

import requests

minified_json = '{"name":"John","age":30}'
response = requests.post(
    'https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/format/json-prettify',
    headers={'X-API-Key': 'your-api-key'},
    json={'json': minified_json, 'indent': 2}
)
prettified = response.json()['prettified']
print(prettified)

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.tinyfn.io/v1/format/json-prettify" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"json": "{\"name\":\"John\",\"age\":30}", "indent": 2}'

Common Use Cases

• Debugging: Make API responses readable for debugging
• Documentation: Format JSON examples for documentation
• Logging: Pretty print JSON in log files for easier analysis
• Code Editors: Build JSON formatting features in editors
• Data Display: Show formatted JSON in web interfaces

Best Practices

1. Validate first: Ensure JSON is valid before formatting
2. Consistent style: Use the same indentation across your project
3. Development only: Use prettified JSON for development, minified for production
4. Consider sorting: Sorted keys make diffs more readable