Extensible Data Notation — Clojure's data serialization format. JSON-like but with additional types: keywords (:foo), symbols, sets (#{...}), and tagged literals (#inst "2020-01-01").

How are EDN keywords converted to JSON?

Keywords become strings with a leading colon by default: `:foo` → `":foo"`. Toggle 'strip colon' for cleaner JSON (`"foo"`) at the cost of round-trip accuracy.

JSON has no set type. Sets become arrays with deduplicated values. Round-tripping back to EDN loses the set identity — a known limitation.

Does it support tagged literals?

Common ones yes — `#inst` becomes ISO 8601 strings, `#uuid` becomes UUID strings. Custom tags pass through as `{tag: "#name", value: ...}` objects.

EDN ↔ JSON | DevTools Surf

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Example: EDN ↔ JSON

A worked example, rendered from real sample data. Sign in to run the tool on your own input.

Input

{:name "Alice" :age 30 :active true :tags ["admin" "user"]}

Output

{
  "name": "Alice",
  "age": 30,
  "active": true,
  "tags": [
    "admin",
    "user"
  ]
}

About EDN ↔ JSON

Convert between Clojure EDN and JSON formats. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Converters collection.

Use Cases

Clojure developers sharing data with JavaScript/Python services
Data engineers converting Datomic query results to JSON
Teams migrating from Clojure backends to polyglot architectures
API developers bridging EDN-based services with JSON consumers

Tips

Map EDN keywords to JSON string keys automatically
Handle EDN sets by converting them to JSON arrays
Preserve EDN tagged literals as annotated JSON objects

Fun Facts

EDN (Extensible Data Notation) was created by Rich Hickey as part of the Clojure ecosystem — it's essentially 'Clojure data literals as a format' and was formalized around 2012.
Unlike JSON, EDN natively supports sets, keywords, symbols, and tagged elements — making it more expressive but also harder to map losslessly to JSON.
Datomic, the immutable database created by Rich Hickey, uses EDN as its native query and transaction format, making EDN-to-JSON conversion essential for integrating with non-Clojure systems.

FAQ

What is EDN?: Extensible Data Notation — Clojure's data serialization format. JSON-like but with additional types: keywords (:foo), symbols, sets (#{...}), and tagged literals (#inst "2020-01-01").
How are EDN keywords converted to JSON?: Keywords become strings with a leading colon by default: `:foo` → `":foo"`. Toggle 'strip colon' for cleaner JSON (`"foo"`) at the cost of round-trip accuracy.
What about EDN sets?: JSON has no set type. Sets become arrays with deduplicated values. Round-tripping back to EDN loses the set identity — a known limitation.
Does it support tagged literals?: Common ones yes — `#inst` becomes ISO 8601 strings, `#uuid` becomes UUID strings. Custom tags pass through as `{tag: "#name", value: ...}` objects.

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