JSON Graph Viewer

What the graph shows

Graph view draws your JSON as a node and link diagram. Objects and arrays become boxes, their primitive fields are listed inside the box, and lines connect each box to the containers nested within it. The point is shape. You can see at once where a document fans out into many children, where it goes deep, and where two branches are built the same way.

Reading nodes and depth

Start at the root and follow the lines outward. A box with many lines leaving it is a wide object or a long array. A long chain of single boxes is deep nesting. Click a node to open its values; you can copy a value from the inspector, and long strings are shortened on the node itself but available in full there.

You can switch the layout direction between left to right, top to bottom, and the two reverse orders, and a Fit button recenters the view. Sliders for depth, array items and object keys control how much of the document is drawn. Depth is the number of levels below the root; lowering it is the fastest way to get a clean overview.

Where a graph beats a tree

A tree outline is a good tool for finding one thing. A graph is better at explaining how things relate. When you are tracing which object owns which array, comparing the layout of repeated branches, or walking a colleague through an unfamiliar payload, a picture they can see all at once is easier than watching you expand and collapse folders. Uneven nesting, where one branch is deep and the others are shallow, also stands out.

Where it struggles

Graphs are poor at precise reading. They are not designed for looking up the fifteenth item in a long list or comparing a column of values; Table does that better. Arrays of many similar records turn into large piles of near-identical boxes. And the canvas has a limit on how much it will draw, so for large inputs the app shows a projected window of the data and says so with a badge. If it reports that the projection is too dense, lower the depth, array and key sliders, or use Tree or Cards. The complete JSON is still in the editor either way.

Empty objects have nothing to draw, and data that cannot be serialized as JSON cannot be graphed at all.

Free, and local

Graph is one of the free views in View My JSON, alongside Cards, Table and Tree, and it needs no account. Parsing and drawing run in your browser. If you want a spatial, orbiting version of the same structure, the 3D explorer is a Pro feature.