JSON looks trivial until you're staring at a 2MB single-line response trying to find the one missing comma. A good formatter is a debugger in disguise.
Pretty-print first, debug second
Reformat the JSON before reading it. Indented output makes structural errors — missing brackets, mismatched types — visible in seconds.
Common syntax traps
Trailing commas, unquoted keys, single quotes instead of double, and comments — all valid in JavaScript but illegal in JSON. The formatter will point to the exact offending position.
When to use JSON Schema
Once data shape matters across services, validate inputs against a schema rather than ad-hoc field checks. It catches drift before it becomes a production bug.