Minify YAML

Convert block-style YAML to compact inline flow style. Useful for embedding YAML in environment variables, annotations, or single-line config values.

Input YAML

Minified YAML

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What is YAML Minification?

YAML minification converts block-style YAML - which uses newlines and indentation to express hierarchy - into flow style, which uses curly braces for mappings and square brackets [] for sequences, similar to JSON. The resulting output is significantly more compact while representing exactly the same data structure.

Flow style is defined in the YAML 1.2 specification as a fully supported alternative to block style. Every conforming YAML parser (including Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and Python's PyYAML) handles flow-style YAML identically to block-style YAML.

Block Style vs. Flow Style

Block Style (Readable)

name: John Doe
age: 30
tags:
  - developer
  - designer
address:
  city: Anytown
  zip: "12345"

Flow Style (Compact)

{name: John Doe, age: 30,
tags: [developer, designer],
address: {city: Anytown,
zip: '12345'}}

Common Use Cases

Environment Variables

Shell environment variables must be single-line strings. If your application reads YAML from an environment variable (a common pattern in Kubernetes-native apps), the YAML must be in flow style to fit within the variable value.

Kubernetes Annotations

Kubernetes annotations are single-line string values. Some operators and tools embed YAML inside annotation values (e.g., Nginx Ingress controller config snippets). These require compact flow-style YAML.

CI/CD Pipeline Values

When passing YAML as a parameter to a CI/CD pipeline step (GitHub Actions with inputs, Jenkins parameters), compact flow style avoids multi-line string escaping issues.

Size Comparison & Transmission

Flow-style YAML can be 30-50% smaller than the equivalent block-style representation for deeply nested documents, since whitespace and newlines account for a significant portion of block-style file size.

What Is Lost During Minification

Comments - YAML comments (# ...) are metadata on the text representation; they do not survive parse-and-reserialise. If your original file has documentation comments, keep the original.
Anchors and aliases - YAML anchor (&name) and alias (*name) references are resolved to their full values before re-serialisation. The output will be larger if the original used aliases to avoid repetition.
Key ordering - YAML mappings are unordered by definition. The serialiser may re-emit keys in a different order than the original document. Do not rely on key order in YAML.