The LocalOnly Blog
Practical, in-depth guides for every tool in the toolkit - the how, the why, and the best practices. Written for developers, and 100% aligned with our privacy-first approach: everything runs in your browser.
JSON Tools
Browse toolsHow to Format JSON Online Safely and Privately
Minified JSON is unreadable and hard to debug. This guide covers how JSON formatting works, when to use it, common mistakes, and how to pretty-print JSON without uploading it anywhere.
How to Minify JSON to Shrink Payloads and Cut Bandwidth
Every extra space and newline in a JSON file costs bytes on the wire. This guide explains how minifying works, when it matters, and how to compress JSON in your browser without uploading it anywhere.
How to Validate JSON and Find Syntax Errors Fast
A single misplaced comma can break an entire API request. This guide explains how JSON validation works, the mistakes it catches, and how to find the exact error location in seconds.
How to Beautify JSON: Turning Messy Payloads into Readable Text
A one-line JSON blob copied from a log or webhook is nearly impossible to scan. This guide shows how beautifying expands it into readable, well-indented text without changing a single value.
How to Sort JSON Keys Alphabetically for Clean, Deterministic Diffs
Two JSON documents with identical data can look completely different in a diff if their keys are ordered differently. This guide explains why key order matters and how to normalize it instantly.
How to Flatten Nested JSON into Dot-Notation Keys
Nested JSON is hard to drop into a spreadsheet, an .env file, or a flat key-value store. This guide explains how flattening converts nested structures into dot-notation keys, when to use it, and the mistakes to avoid.
How to Unflatten JSON: Rebuild Nested Objects from Dot Notation
Flat key-value data from a spreadsheet or key-value store is hard to use as-is. This guide explains how JSON unflattening rebuilds the original nested objects and arrays, safely, in your browser.
How to Escape Strings for JSON Without Breaking Syntax
Pasting raw text - code, logs, or quoted dialogue - directly into a JSON string breaks parsing. This guide explains JSON escaping rules and how to escape text correctly in seconds.
How to Unescape JSON Strings and Read the Real Text Behind Them
Escaped JSON strings collapse real newlines, quotes, and Unicode characters into cryptic sequences. This guide shows how to reverse that process and read the original text safely.
How to Stringify JSON: Turning a Document Into a Safe String Literal
Sometimes a JSON value has to live inside another JSON field, an env var, or a database column - as text. This guide explains stringifying, common pitfalls like double-encoding, and how to do it privately.
How to Remove Null Values from JSON Recursively
Null values sneak into JSON from ORMs, forms, and API serializers, bloating payloads and complicating merges. Here is how to remove them recursively - and when not to.
How to Remove Empty Values from JSON (Strings, Arrays, Objects)
Blank fields, empty arrays, and leftover empty objects bloat JSON payloads and slow down diffs. This guide explains how to prune them safely and recursively, right in your browser.
How to Compare Two JSON Files and Actually Trust the Result
A plain text diff on JSON is noisy and often wrong. This guide explains semantic JSON comparison, how added/removed/changed values are detected, and how to diff two documents without uploading them anywhere.
How to Deep-Merge JSON Objects Without Losing Data
Combining two configs by hand often clobbers nested data you meant to keep. This guide explains how deep merging actually works and how to merge JSON objects safely.
How to Explore Large JSON Files with a Collapsible Tree View
Raw JSON text hides its own shape. This guide shows how a collapsible tree view turns an unfamiliar payload into something you can scan, search, and navigate in seconds.
How to Analyze JSON Structure: Size, Depth, and Type Counts Explained
A JSON payload can look simple and still hide bloated arrays, dangerous nesting, or dozens of duplicate keys. This guide shows how to profile any document's size, depth, and type makeup before it becomes a problem.
How to Query JSON with JSONPath: A Practical Guide
JSONPath lets you extract exactly the values you need from a JSON document without writing a parser. This guide covers the syntax and shows how to test expressions instantly.
How to Generate a JSON Schema from a Sample Document
Writing a JSON Schema by hand is slow and error-prone. This guide shows how inferring one from a real example gets you a working draft in seconds, plus how to refine it correctly.
How to Validate JSON Against a Schema (With AJV, In Your Browser)
A JSON document can be well-formed and still be wrong. This guide explains JSON Schema validation, how AJV catches contract violations, and how to check your data with precise, path-level errors.
Converters
Browse toolsJSON to YAML: How to Convert Config Files the Right Way
Kubernetes, GitHub Actions and Ansible all expect YAML, but your data often starts life as JSON. Here's how the conversion works, where it trips people up, and how to do it privately in seconds.
How to Convert YAML to JSON Without Breaking Your Config
YAML is friendlier to write, but most tools and APIs still expect JSON. Here is how the conversion really works, what gets lost, and how to do it safely in your browser.
How to Convert JSON to CSV Without Losing Any Data
Spreadsheets don't understand nested JSON. This guide explains how a JSON array becomes clean, aligned CSV rows, and how to avoid the mistakes that corrupt spreadsheet imports.
How to Convert CSV to JSON Without Breaking Your Data
Turning a spreadsheet export into usable JSON is trickier than a simple comma split. This guide covers headers, quoting, delimiters and type inference, plus how to convert CSV safely in your browser.
How to Convert JSON to XML Without Losing Attributes or Structure
XML has no native concept of arrays or attributes the way JSON does. This guide explains the mapping rules and shows how to convert JSON to clean, valid XML without uploading anything.
How to Convert XML to JSON Without Losing Attributes or Structure
XML and JSON model data differently, so a naive conversion loses attributes or flattens structure. This guide explains a predictable XML-to-JSON convention and how to apply it safely.
Developer Utilities
Browse toolsHow to Generate UUIDs Online: v4 vs v7 Explained
UUIDs give you globally unique identifiers without a central authority. This guide covers v4 vs v7, how the bits are structured, common pitfalls, and how to generate them in bulk privately in your browser.
Nano ID Explained: A Shorter, Safer Alternative to UUID
Nano ID packs UUID-level uniqueness into a shorter, URL-safe string. This guide covers how it works, how to size it correctly, and how to generate IDs without sending data to a server.
How to Base64 Encode Text and Files (and Get UTF-8 Right)
Base64 encoding turns arbitrary bytes into safe, portable text. This guide covers how encoding works, UTF-8 pitfalls, URL-safe output, and how to encode text or files without uploading anything.
How to Decode Base64 Back to Readable Text
Base64 encoding turns bytes into safe text, and decoding undoes that step. This guide covers how decoding works, why URL-safe tokens need extra care, and how to recover the original text without uploading it anywhere.
How to Decode a JWT and Read Its Claims Safely
A JWT looks like gibberish, but it is just three Base64URL segments hiding plain JSON. This guide walks through decoding a token, reading its claims, and avoiding the mistakes that cause auth bugs.
How to URL Encode Text: Percent-Encoding Explained
Spaces, ampersands, and accented letters break URLs unless they are percent-encoded first. This guide covers how URL encoding works, when to use it, and how to avoid the mistakes that cause broken links.
How to Decode a URL: Turning %XX Escapes Back into Readable Text
A log line full of %3D and %20 is hard to read at a glance. This guide explains how percent-decoding works, the + versus space gotcha, and how to recover the original text instantly and privately.
How to Generate SHA-256 and Other Hashes for Text and Files
Cryptographic hashes let you fingerprint text or files and verify they haven't changed. Here's how SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512 work, and how to compute them without uploading anything.
How to Generate Strong Passwords You Can Actually Trust
Reused and predictable passwords are the easiest way into an account. This guide explains what makes a password strong, how randomness and entropy work, and how to generate one safely without sending it anywhere.
Unix Timestamp Converter: How to Read Epoch Time Correctly
Unix timestamps look simple until you hit a 13-digit number that breaks your date parser. This guide explains epoch time, common conversion mistakes, and how to convert timestamps to dates (and back) without uploading anything.
Lorem Ipsum Generator: How to Fill Mockups With Placeholder Text
A blank layout tells you nothing about how real content will behave. This guide explains what lorem ipsum is, when to use it, and how to generate precise placeholder text without leaving your browser.
PlantUML Explained: Turn Plain Text into UML Diagrams
PlantUML lets you describe a diagram in text instead of dragging shapes around a canvas. This guide covers the syntax, common diagram types, and how to render them without uploading anything.