JSON Pretty View

View minified or single-line JSON as formatted, foldable text — right in the tab where the file is open, without changing the file.

Features

• Same tab. One click in the editor title bar swaps the raw file for a read-only pretty view; another click swaps it back.
• Native editor. The view is a regular read-only text editor, so folding, syntax highlighting and search work as usual.
• Any file system. Works for files opened through any provider: local disk, Remote SSH, Dev Containers, the Container Tools explorer (containers:), and other virtual file systems.
• Exact values. Only whitespace is changed. Numbers keep their original text (no rounding of 64-bit integers like 18446744073709551615), and key order and duplicate keys are preserved.
• JSON Lines and logs. In .jsonl, .ndjson and .log files with one JSON object per line, every record opens collapsed and reads like the original line; expanding it shows only the formatted JSON. Lines that are not JSON are shown as is.
• Escaped strings on hover. Hover a string value in the pretty view to see it decoded: multi-line text such as stack traces with real line breaks, and JSON serialized into a string formatted as JSON.
• Fresh content. The file is re-read when you switch back to the tab, or on demand with the refresh button.

JSON Lines and logs

Usage

1. Open a JSON, JSON Lines or log file.
2. Click the tree icon in the editor title bar, or run JSON: Toggle Pretty View from the Command Palette.
3. Fold sections with the gutter arrows, Ctrl+K Ctrl+0 (fold all) and Ctrl+K Ctrl+J (unfold all); on macOS use Cmd. In JSON Lines view, Ctrl+K Ctrl+1 collapses every record back to its line.
4. Click the tree icon again to return to the raw file.

Commands

Notes

• Plain JSON only; JSONC with comments is not supported.
• If the raw file has unsaved changes, it stays open and the pretty view opens next to it. The view shows the saved content.