Table Formatter and Node Editor for VS Code

Open CSV, TSV, Markdown, SQL, and JSON files as live editable tables right inside VS Code. Multi-cell editing, drag-and-drop, formula columns, and export to SQL, HTML, Markdown, and JSON.

See it work

Full walkthrough

Paste a table, reshape it, wire a pipeline, validate it. Three surfaces over the same data: a visual table editor, a node graph for joins and filters, and a lab for validation and transform steps.

Table view — transpose, move columns, merge cells

Transposing a table

Column move and merge

Import CSV, TSV, Markdown, JSON, SQL INSERT statements, ASCII or HTML. Edit as a real table, not as text.

Node editor — wire two tables into a pipeline

Connect a column's output port to an operator's input, configure it, run the graph.

Wiring a node

Filter the orders table on quantity, then look up each part's description from a second table.

Configuring filter and vlookup

Running the graph

Ports are per column, so a pipeline is wired at the granularity of the data rather than the sheet. Run reports how many nodes processed, and Build Table drops the result back into the table view.

Lab mode — validate, transform, analyze

Lab mode validation

Steps chain into a recipe: flag empty, flag duplicate, flag out of range, pattern and cross-column checks, plus transforms and aggregates. Results are scored, so a validated column reads differently from an unchecked one downstream.

Install and use

Install this extension.
Right-click any .csv, .tsv, .md, .sql, .json, or .html file in Explorer.
Pick "Open with Table Formatter and Node Editor."

Commands

Command	What it does
`Ginexys: Open with Table Formatter and Node Editor`	Open a file picker, edit the chosen file as a table
`Ginexys: Open Table Formatter`	Open in plain Table mode
`Ginexys: Open Node Editor`	Open in Node Editor mode
`Ginexys: Open Lab Mode (Validate, Analyze, Transform)`	Open in Lab Mode

Each command also appears in the Explorer context menu and the editor title context menu when a supported file is focused.

File types

.csv · .tsv · .md · .sql · .json · .html

The same custom editor handles all six. CSV and TSV become flat tables. Markdown tables and fenced ```csv blocks become separate sheets. JSON arrays of objects become tables with object keys as columns. SQL files render the result set as a table.

Live sync

Edit the underlying file in a normal text editor and the table view updates after a 300ms debounce. Edit the table and the file updates. Both views stay in sync.

What is TAFNE

TAFNE (Table Format and Node Editor) is the Transform step of the Ginexys engineering pipeline. You got a table from a PDF scrape, a legacy export, or a broken copy-paste. It is mangled. TAFNE parses it into a live visual editor. Reshape it visually: drag columns, merge cells, split text, transpose. Then export to clean HTML, Markdown, JSON, CSV, or SQL INSERT statements.

Input formats

Format	Example source
HTML	Scraped web tables, legacy CMS exports
CSV and TSV	Excel, Google Sheets, instrument exports
Markdown	GitHub README tables, Notion exports
JSON	API payloads, config files, test fixtures
SQL	Result sets, seed files

Export formats

Format	Use case
HTML	Documentation, web publishing, Confluence
Markdown	GitHub docs, Notion, GitBook, Docusaurus
CSV	Data pipelines, Excel re-import
JSON	API payloads, config files
SQL	Database seed files, migration scripts (INSERT INTO ready)

The SQL export is the differentiator. Paste a CSV, get INSERT statements. Most table tools do not do this.

Key features

Multi-format paste. HTML, CSV, ASCII, or text. One input panel, auto-detected.
Visual drag and drop. Reorder rows and columns by dragging.
Cell merging. Colspan and rowspan via toolbar or keyboard shortcut.
Text split. Split a cell into rows or columns using custom delimiters.
Transpose. Flip rows and columns in one click.
Node Editor mode. Build tables from scratch using a visual node graph.
Lab Mode. Validate, analyze, and transform tables with a recipe-style pipeline.
Multi-select. Ctrl/Cmd+click, range drag, or Shift+click for bulk operations.
Undo and Redo. Full per-table history stack.
Live sync with VS Code text editor. Edit either view, both update.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Insert`	Insert cell
`Delete`	Delete cell
`Alt+Shift+W`	Merge cells
`Alt+Shift+T`	Text split
`Alt+Shift+X`	Apply text split
`Ctrl/Cmd+click`	Multi-select cells
`Shift+click`	Range select
`Double-click`	Edit cell content
`Alt+D`	Toggle drag-and-drop mode globally

Who uses this

Technical writers. Clean HTML or Markdown tables for docs platforms.
Backend developers. SQL INSERT statements from CSV exports, no scripting.
Data analysts. Reshape legacy CSV/ASCII exports from ERP systems and lab instruments.
Researchers. Reformat ASCII tables from scientific software for LaTeX or Python.

Requires

Ginexys Core Extension is a dependency. VS Code installs it automatically.

Part of the Ginexys pipeline

TAFNE is the Transform step:

Extract  (PDF/image to structured data)   PDF Processor
   v
Transform  (reshape, edit, clean)         TAFNE  (this extension)
   v
Engineer   (schematic / topology editor)  Schema Editor

Get the whole pipeline: Ginexys Developer Tools.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Source and issues

https://github.com/carnworkstudios/TAFNE

Web version

https://ginexys.com/tools/table-formatter/