Clean Code Tools

Code Formatters

Format, beautify, and minify your code with professional tools. Transform messy JSON, HTML, and CSS into clean, readable code — or minify it for production. Essential utilities for developers, code reviewers, and anyone working with web technologies.

Why Format Code?

Code formatting is about readability and maintainability. Well-formatted code is easier to read, debug, review, and maintain. Consistent indentation, proper spacing, and logical organization make code accessible to team members and your future self.

Minified code (the opposite of formatted code) removes all whitespace to reduce file size for production. A 50KB CSS file might become 35KB when minified — significant savings for web performance. Our tools handle both directions: beautify for development, minify for production.

Benefits of Proper Formatting

  • Readability: Clean code is easier to understand at a glance
  • Debugging: Properly formatted code makes errors easier to spot
  • Code Review: Reviewers can focus on logic, not formatting issues
  • Consistency: Uniform style across files and team members
  • Version Control: Fewer merge conflicts from formatting differences

When to Minify

  • Production Deployment: Reduce CSS, JSON, and HTML file sizes
  • API Responses: Smaller JSON payloads mean faster transfers
  • Email Templates: Compact HTML for email size limits
  • Bandwidth Optimization: Every byte matters at scale

Beautify vs Minify

Beautified (Development)

{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "roles": [
    "admin",
    "editor"
  ]
}

✓ Easy to read and debug
✓ Clear structure visible
✓ Ideal for development

📦

Minified (Production)

{"name":"John Doe","email":"john@example.com","roles":["admin","editor"]}

✓ Smaller file size
✓ Faster network transfer
✓ Ideal for production

Understanding Code Formats

JSON Formatting

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is the lingua franca of data exchange. APIs return JSON, configuration files use JSON, and databases store JSON documents. But JSON from APIs is often minified and unreadable.

Our JSON formatter beautifies minified JSON with proper indentation (2 or 4 spaces), validates syntax to catch errors, and can minify back for production use.

Try JSON Formatter →
Common use cases:
  • Debug API responses
  • Format config files
  • Validate JSON syntax
  • Minify for production
  • Compare JSON structures
What the formatter fixes:
  • Inconsistent indentation
  • Misaligned closing tags
  • Attribute ordering
  • Excessive whitespace
  • Line length issues

HTML Formatting

HTML can quickly become messy — nested tags, inconsistent indentation, and attributes sprawling across lines. Template engines and minifiers often output unreadable HTML that's impossible to debug.

Our HTML formatter reorganizes markup with proper nesting, consistent indentation, and logical structure. It can also minify HTML for email templates or production pages.

Try HTML Formatter →

CSS Formatting

CSS files grow organically and often become disorganized. Properties in random order, inconsistent brace style, and varying indentation make stylesheets hard to maintain.

Our CSS formatter beautifies stylesheets with consistent indentation, one property per line, and optionally sorts properties alphabetically. For production, minify to remove all whitespace and comments.

Try CSS Formatter →
// Before formatting:
.btn{color:#fff;background:#007bff;padding:10px 20px;border:none;}
// After formatting:
.btn {
  background: #007bff;
  border: none;
  color: #fff;
  padding: 10px 20px;
}

Who Uses Code Formatters?

💻

Developers

Developers format code daily — debugging API responses, cleaning up generated code, preparing code samples for documentation, and organizing configuration files. Quick formatting without IDE setup is invaluable.

  • • Debug minified API responses
  • • Clean up code from tutorials
  • • Format config files for readability
  • • Prepare code samples for docs
🔍

Code Reviewers

Code reviewers need to focus on logic, not formatting. Pre-formatting submitted code ensures consistent style and makes actual changes visible in diffs. Formatters help establish coding standards across teams.

  • • Normalize code before review
  • • Identify structural issues
  • • Ensure style consistency
  • • Reduce formatting-only commits
📚

Technical Writers

Documentation requires clean, readable code examples. Formatters ensure code samples are perfectly indented and follow consistent style, making tutorials and API docs easier to follow.

  • • Format code for documentation
  • • Create consistent examples
  • • Clean API response samples
  • • Prepare tutorial code

Performance Engineers

Performance matters for web applications. Minifying CSS, JSON, and HTML reduces file sizes, improving load times and reducing bandwidth costs. Quick minification without build tool setup speeds up optimization work.

  • • Minify CSS for production
  • • Reduce JSON payload sizes
  • • Compact HTML templates
  • • Quick optimization checks

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between formatting and minifying?

Formatting (beautifying) adds whitespace and indentation to make code readable. Minifying removes all unnecessary whitespace to reduce file size. Use formatted code for development and debugging; minified code for production.

Will formatting change my code's behavior?

No. Formatting only changes whitespace and indentation — it doesn't modify the actual code. Your JSON values, HTML structure, and CSS properties remain exactly the same. The code functions identically before and after formatting.

How much can minification reduce file size?

Results vary by content. CSS typically sees 20-40% reduction. JSON with lots of whitespace might shrink by 30-50%. HTML varies widely based on indentation. Combined with gzip compression (handled by web servers), the total savings can be substantial.

Can the formatter fix syntax errors?

Our formatters primarily handle whitespace and structure. For JSON, invalid syntax will produce an error message pointing to the problem. The formatters help identify where errors occur but don't automatically fix missing brackets or invalid values.

Is my code sent to a server?

No. All formatting happens in your browser using JavaScript. Your code never leaves your device — there are no server uploads, no logging, and no data collection. This makes our tools safe for proprietary or sensitive code.

Start Formatting

Choose a formatter and clean up your code instantly. Free, fast, and completely private.