JSON Explorer

The JSON Explorer is an interactive viewer for large or deeply nested JSON. It shows a document as a collapsible tree or as a table, and adds search, filters, bookmarks, pins, schema validation, and type generation.

The same explorer runs in three places:

• The Nouto VS Code extension opens it in an editor tab beside the request.
• The Nouto desktop app opens it in place of the request view. Click Back to Requests to return.
• The standalone JSON Explorer extension for VS Code opens JSON files without the REST client.

This page is the reference for features that all three share. Differences between them are noted where they apply.

Open the explorer

To explore a JSON response, click Open in JSON Explorer in the body toolbar of the response panel. The button appears when the response body is JSON. Sending the request again refreshes the open explorer with the new response. In VS Code, opening the explorer again from the same request reuses its tab.

To explore a JSON file with the Nouto VS Code extension, right-click a .json file in the Explorer view or an editor tab and select Open in JSON Explorer. You can also run Nouto: Open in JSON Explorer from the Command Palette while a JSON file is active. Files up to 20 MB are supported. The JSON Explorer extension opens more file types; see Open a JSON file.

To replace the open document with JSON from the clipboard, press Ctrl+V while no input field in the explorer has focus. The clipboard must hold a JSON object or array.

On macOS, press Cmd wherever this page says Ctrl.

Tree view

The tree view is the default. It shows one row per key or array element:

• Values are colored by type using your theme’s colors. null values are in italics.
• A collapsed object or array shows a count badge, for example 3 keys or 42 items.
• Click a row to select it and to expand or collapse it. Double-click a collapsed row to expand it and everything inside it.
• Hover over a row to show buttons that pin the node, bookmark it, or copy its value.
• Arrays show 2,000 items at a time. Click the Show N more row at the end of the list to load the next batch. In the JSON Explorer extension, the noutoJsonExplorer.arrayPageSize setting changes the batch size.

The toolbar controls the tree as a whole:

• Expand All expands every node. The arrow next to it opens a menu with Expand to Level 1 through Expand to Level 5.
• Collapse All collapses every node.
• Sort keys alphabetically shows object keys in alphabetical order. Only the tree display changes. The document, the table view, the diff, and copied values keep the original order.
• Toggle word wrap (Alt+Z) wraps long values onto several lines. Word wrap is on by default.

Timestamp hints

The tree shows a formatted date after values that look like timestamps, and the date’s format when you hover over the value:

Value	Detected as
A number from 1,000,000,000 to 9,999,999,999	Unix seconds
A number from 1,000,000,000,000 to 9,999,999,999,999	Unix milliseconds
A string that starts with an ISO 8601 date and time, such as 2026-03-15T14:30:00Z	ISO 8601

Dates are formatted for your locale. A date without a time, such as 2026-03-15, gets no hint.

Embedded JSON

A string value that itself contains a JSON object or array shows a JSON badge. The explorer checks strings up to 64 KB. To explore the embedded document, right-click the value and select Open Embedded JSON in New Tab (VS Code) or Open Embedded JSON (desktop).

Multi-select

Select several nodes to copy or bookmark them together:

• Ctrl+click adds or removes a node.
• Shift+click selects the range between the last selected node and the clicked node.
• Ctrl+A selects every visible node.
• Escape clears the selection.

The status bar shows how many nodes are selected. The context menu then offers Copy N values and Bookmark N nodes, and the Copy as… menu copies the selected values as an array.

Table view

When the document is an array whose first item is an object, the toolbar shows Tree and Table buttons. Click Table or press Ctrl+Shift+T to switch. To show a nested array as a table, right-click it in the tree and select View as Table.

• Columns come from the keys of every item.
• Click a column header to sort by that column. Click again to reverse the order.
• Drag a column border to resize the column. Double-click the border to fit the column to its content.
• Row numbers stay in place when you scroll sideways. Click the pin button in a column header to keep that column in place too.
• Cells show timestamp hints, like the tree.
• Rows that match the search or the query filter are highlighted. In filter mode, the table shows only matching rows.
• Long tables show a Show more button with the number of remaining rows.
• Copy as CSV copies the table to the clipboard as CSV.

Search

Press Ctrl+F or click Search to search keys and values. Press Enter for the next match and Shift+Enter for the previous one. Matching text is highlighted in the tree and the table.

The search bar has these options:

Option	Effect
Toggle regex	Treat the search text as a regular expression
Toggle case sensitivity	Match letter case exactly
Search scope	Cycle between All, Keys, and Values
Toggle fuzzy search	Typo-tolerant matching, using the fzf algorithm
Toggle filter mode	Switch between highlighting matches and hiding rows that don’t match

To search inside one object or array, right-click it and select Search in this node. A badge in the search bar shows the scope. Click the badge to search the whole document again.

JSONPath filter

Press Ctrl+/ or click Filter to open the JSONPath filter. Enter an expression such as $.data[*].name. The explorer replaces the document with the nodes the expression selects and shows the number of matches. If the expression is invalid, the bar shows the error.

Click ? in the filter bar to open the JSONPath Reference panel, which covers the syntax, filter operators, and examples. Press Escape to close the bar and clear the filter.

Query filter

Press Ctrl+Shift+K or click Query to find array items with field comparisons instead of paths, for example status = "active" AND age > 30. Matching items are highlighted in the tree and the table, and you can step through them. See Query filter for the operators, field paths, and examples.

Context menu

Right-click a node to open its context menu. Some actions appear only for certain nodes:

Action	Shown for	Effect
Copy N values	A selection of more than one node	Copies the selected values as a JSON array
Bookmark N nodes	A selection of more than one node	Bookmarks every selected node
Copy Value	Every node	Copies the value as JSON
Copy Path	Every node	Copies the node’s JSONPath, for example $.users[0].name
Copy Key	Object keys and array elements	Copies the key or index
Bookmark or Remove Bookmark	Every node	Adds the node to the bookmarks panel or removes it
Pin or Unpin	Every node	Adds the node to the Pinned strip or removes it
Search in this node	Objects and arrays	Limits search to this node
View as Table	Arrays whose first item is an object	Shows this array in the table view
Open Subtree in New Tab or Open Subtree	Objects and arrays	Opens the node as its own document. VS Code opens a new tab. The desktop app replaces the current document and shows Back to previous document.
Open Embedded JSON in New Tab or Open Embedded JSON	Strings that contain JSON	Opens the parsed string as its own document
Expand Recursively or Collapse	Objects and arrays	Expands everything inside the node, or collapses it
Expand to Level 1 to Expand to Level 3	Every node	Expands the whole tree to that depth
Create Assertion	Documents opened from a saved request’s response	See Response actions
Save as Variable	Values in documents opened from a saved request’s response	See Response actions

Response actions

When you open the explorer from a response, the request’s method and URL appear above the tree. When that request is saved in a collection, the explorer also links back to it: click the method and URL to go back to the request.

Two context menu actions use this link:

• Create Assertion adds an assertion on the node’s path to the request’s Tests tab. For a value, the assertion checks that the path equals the current value. For an object or array, it checks that the path exists. See Assertions.
• Save as Variable opens the Save as Environment Variable dialog. Enter a variable name and click Save to store the value in the active environment. If no environment is active, Nouto asks you to select one first. See Environments.

Compare

Click Compare with another JSON in the toolbar to diff the open document against a second JSON document that you paste or pick from disk. The explorer counts the added, removed, changed, and unchanged paths and marks each one in a side-by-side list. See Compare JSON documents.

This compares two arbitrary documents. To compare a response with the previous response from the same request, use Response diff.

Generate types

Click Generate types in the toolbar to generate TypeScript, Zod, Rust, Go, Python, or JSON Schema definitions from the document or from the selected node. See Generate types.

Schema validation

To check the document against a JSON Schema:

1. Click Validate against JSON Schema (the verified icon) in the toolbar.
2. Paste the schema into the Schema Validation panel.
3. Click Validate.

If the document is valid, the panel shows a Valid badge. Otherwise, the tree marks every node that fails, and the panel lists each violation with its path and message. Click a violation to jump to its node. Click Clear schema to remove the schema and the marks.

Statistics

Click JSON statistics in the toolbar to open the Statistics panel. It shows:

• The number of keys, objects, arrays, and primitive values, and the maximum nesting depth.
• A type distribution bar for strings, numbers, booleans, nulls, objects, and arrays. Hover over a segment for its count and percentage.
• The minimum, maximum, and average length of arrays and of strings.
• The list of unique keys in the document.

Copy and save

Copy JSON to clipboard in the toolbar copies the whole document as formatted JSON.

Copy as… in the toolbar copies the selected values, the selected node, or the whole document, in that order of preference. It offers these formats:

• JSON (formatted)
• JSON (minified)
• YAML
• TypeScript
• Python
• PHP array
• CSV, for arrays only
• Markdown table, for arrays only

The same menu has a Save to file section with JSON, YAML, and CSV. In the JSON Explorer extension, these open the VS Code save dialog.

Find your way around

These parts of the explorer help you keep track of where you are:

• The breadcrumb bar above the tree shows the path of the selected node. Click a segment to jump to it, or click Copy path.
• The status bar shows the total number of nodes, the number of selected nodes, and the path and type of the selected node.
• The Pinned strip above the tree lists pinned nodes with a preview of their current values. Click a pin to jump to its node, remove pins one at a time, or click Clear all pins. Pin a node from its hover buttons or its context menu.
• The Bookmarks panel lists bookmarked paths. Open it from the toolbar in the tree view. Unlike pins, bookmarks stay hidden until you open the panel.
• Toggle minimap in the toolbar shows an overview of the tree beside it when more than 20 rows are visible. Click the minimap to scroll. This is separate from the response viewer’s minimap, which maps the raw response text.

The desktop app keeps bookmarks and pins after a restart.

Keyboard shortcuts

These shortcuts work while the explorer has focus. They are fixed and can’t be changed in Settings.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+F	Toggle search
Ctrl+/	Toggle the JSONPath filter
Ctrl+Shift+K	Toggle the query filter
Ctrl+Shift+T	Switch between tree and table view
Alt+Z	Toggle word wrap
Enter or Shift+Enter in the search or query bar	Go to the next or previous match
Escape in the search, filter, or query bar	Close the bar
Up and Down	Select the previous or next row
Right	Expand the selected node, or move into it
Left	Collapse the selected node, or move to its parent
Home and End	Select the first or last row
Enter or Space on a row	Expand or collapse the row
Ctrl+click	Add or remove a node from the selection
Shift+click	Select a range of nodes
Ctrl+A	Select all visible nodes
Escape	Clear the selection