About String to JSON

Parse stringified JSON back to formatted JSON. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Converters collection.

Use Cases

• Debugging double-encoded JSON from API gateway logs
• Parsing stringified JSON payloads from message queues
• Recovering readable data from escaped database exports
• Inspecting serialized JSON stored in environment variables

Tips

• Paste escaped JSON strings from log files directly
• Use this to debug double-serialized API responses
• Check the formatted output for unexpected nested strings

Fun Facts

• JSON was specified by Douglas Crockford in 2001 and formalized as ECMA-404 in 2013.
• JSON does not support comments, which was an intentional design decision by Crockford to prevent misuse as a configuration format.
• The JSON specification is one of the shortest standards documents at just 10 pages in its ECMA-404 form.

FAQ

What's a 'stringified' JSON?

JSON where the payload is a quoted and escaped string — usually because it was serialized twice. Common in log pipelines that wrap structured data in JSON string fields.

Is it the same as unescape?

Conceptually yes. This tool unwraps one layer of stringification and pretty-prints the result. JSON Unescape String is the lower-level version.

What if the JSON is triple-stringified?

Run the tool multiple times. Each pass removes one layer. Until you hit actual JSON structure, keep unwrapping.

Does it validate the unwrapped content?

Yes — if the unwrapped string isn't valid JSON, you get a parse error with the exact line and column.