QDevWhy QDev, not a jq one-liner
or a paste-in-a-box site.
There are plenty of ways to look at JSON — the terminal, an online formatter, DevTools, your API client. Each is good at something. QDev is the one that opens any JSON, YAML, or TOON file automatically, shows it four ways, writes the jq for you when you ask in plain English, and never uploads a byte. Here's the honest comparison.
Capabilities, side by side
✓ full support · △ partial or limited · ✗ not available.
| CAPABILITY | QDev | jq (CLI) | Online viewers | DevTools / native | API clients |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opens files automatically | ✓ at any URL or file:// | ✗ pipe by hand | ✗ paste / upload | △ URLs only | ✗ make a request first |
| Interactive visual tree | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ basic |
| Schema inference | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Graph view | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| jq without knowing jq | ✓ | ✗ you write it | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Plain-English → jq | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| SQL over top-level arrays | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Handles huge files | ✓ streams > 64 MB | ✓ streams | ✗ chokes | △ struggles | ✗ |
| Data stays local — no upload | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ sent to their server | ✓ | ✓ |
| Works in-browser on any file | ✓ | ✗ terminal only | △ | △ no file:// | ✗ |
The QDev column is the only one that's green all the way down — and the three rows about querying (jq without jq, plain-English → jq, SQL over arrays) are ones nothing else here does at all. See how the AI modes work.
jq on the command line
.items | group_by(.k) | map({k: .[0].k, n: length}) is a lot to hold in your head for a one-off question. It's terminal-only, so there's no visual tree, schema, or graph, and you still pipe each file in by hand. QDev writes the jq for you from a plain-English question, runs it locally in WebAssembly, and shows the result on top of the data.Online JSON formatters & viewers
Don't paste sensitive JSON into a random website.
When you paste into an online formatter, that data — auth tokens, customer records, an internal API response — is uploaded to a server you don't own. QDev is a browser extension: it renders the file inside your own tab, and the file never leaves it. The local AI modes send nothing at all; even hosted mode sends only a value-masked schema plus your question — never your values. Same convenience, none of the exposure.
Read the privacy model →Browser DevTools & the native JSON viewer
file:// JSON file the way QDev does. QDev is the same four views — tree, raw, schema, graph — everywhere, on files of any size.API clients (Postman & friends)
Free for personal use and source-available. Add QDev to your browser and every JSON, YAML, or TOON file you open just works.