Developer toolLive

Formatter Hub: five formatters, one workbench

Formatter Hub is a toolbox for JSON, CSS, HTML, SQL and YAML. I replaced five separate screens with a single workbench, and the data never leaves the browser.

Client

My own product

Year: 2026

My role

Design and development

Services
  • Web app (Next.js)
  • Formatting engines
  • Interface and design system
  • Test setup
Tech stack
Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwindCSSVitestPlaywright
Highlights
  • 5 formatters, 1 workbench
  • Errors with line and column
  • Data stays in the browser

Problem

Online formatters often come with ads, extra steps and vague error messages, and it is never clear where the pasted data goes.

The goal was a tool that works like this: paste, see the result at once, know exactly where an error is, and be sure the data stays in the browser.

Solution

I merged the five tools into one workbench: input on the left, output on the right, and a draggable divider between them. Formatting uses Prettier, sql-formatter and native JSON, and each formatter loads only on its own page.

  • Formatting as you type; turn it off and run with Ctrl/⌘ + Enter
  • Errors show line and column, the line is marked in the editor, and one click jumps to it
  • A collapsible tree view and key sorting for JSON, property sorting for CSS, and a keyword-case option for SQL
  • YAML to JSON conversion
  • Open a file, drop one on the editor, paste from the clipboard, copy, download, or move the output back into the input
  • Input and settings are remembered on this device only; phones get Input and Output tabs

Result

I replaced the old copy-pasted screens and regex-based formatters with a simpler architecture. The tool is live and the data never leaves the browser.

  • 91 end-to-end and 16 unit tests
  • Pure, tested formatting modules for each language
  • No theme flash on load, with dark mode support
Screenshots