YAML Viewer

Visualize YAML as an interactive, collapsible tree. Click to expand or collapse mappings and sequences for easy navigation.

Input YAML

YAML Tree

Output will appear here...

All processing is done locally in your browser. No data is sent to our servers.

Why Use a Tree View for YAML?

Large YAML files - Kubernetes Helm values, multi-service Docker Compose files, complex CI/CD pipelines - can span hundreds of lines. Reading them as raw text makes it hard to understand the overall shape of the data or to locate a specific nested key without scrolling past irrelevant sections.

An interactive tree view solves both problems. The entire document is collapsed by default, showing only the top-level keys. You expand only the branches you care about, navigating directly to the value you need. This is especially useful when working with an unfamiliar YAML schema for the first time.

YAML Data Structures in the Tree

Mappings (Objects)

Displayed as expandable nodes with a key label and a child count indicator. Expanding a mapping reveals its key-value pairs as child nodes. Nested mappings expand recursively to any depth.

Sequences (Arrays)

Displayed as expandable nodes with an index-based layout. Each item is labelled by its zero-based index. Sequences of mappings - the pattern used in Kubernetes container lists - show the first key of each item as a preview label.

Scalars

Leaf nodes that display their value inline alongside the key. The data type (string, number, boolean, null) is shown so you can immediately see whether a value like true is a boolean or a quoted string.

Multi-line Strings

Block scalars (| literal, > folded) are shown as expandable leaf nodes so their full content is visible without disrupting the surrounding tree layout.

Common Use Cases

Exploring Helm Values

Helm chart values.yaml files often define dozens of configurable sections. Paste them into the viewer to navigate the structure and locate the key you need to override without reading the entire file.

Debugging Pipeline Files

GitHub Actions and GitLab CI files nest jobs, steps, and environment variables several levels deep. The tree view makes it easy to verify that a step is correctly nested under its job rather than accidentally placed at the workflow level.

Understanding API Responses

Some APIs (notably Kubernetes kubectl get -o yaml output) return YAML. The tree view lets you explore a live resource's full status object and locate the field you need to monitor or patch.

Schema Discovery

When working with an undocumented YAML format, the tree view provides an interactive schema browser. Expanding all nodes gives you a complete map of the document's shape before you write a parser or validation schema.

YAML vs. JSON vs. TOML: When to Use Each

YAML, JSON, and TOML each occupy a different point in the readability-strictness trade-off spectrum. Understanding the differences helps you choose the right format and the right tool for inspecting it.

YAML - most human-readable, supports comments and multi-line strings, but whitespace-sensitive. Best for configs authored by hand: Kubernetes, Docker Compose, Ansible, GitHub Actions.
JSON - strict, unambiguous, universally supported. Best for machine-generated data, API payloads, and configs where tooling support matters more than readability.
TOML - designed specifically for configuration files with a minimal, flat structure. Best for simple app configs (Rust Cargo.toml, Python pyproject.toml) where deep nesting is not needed.