How is this different from the YAML Validator?

The validator answers a single yes/no question and shows summary stats. This editor is meant to stay open while you actively write or modify YAML, showing a live, expandable tree of the actual parsed structure that updates on every keystroke, closer to what a YAML-aware IDE plugin gives you.

Does the structure view update as I type?

Yes, immediately. Every change to the text panel re-parses the document and re-renders the tree view, so you can see the effect of an edit, like adding a key or fixing indentation, right away instead of needing a separate 'run' step.

What happens to the tree view while my YAML is temporarily invalid mid-edit?

It's normal to pass through invalid states while typing, for example right after opening a new block but before indenting its contents. The tree view pauses and shows the parse error below instead of a stale or partial tree, so you always know whether what's currently in the editor is valid.

Can I use this to write YAML from scratch, not just edit existing YAML?

Yes, clear the sample content and start typing. The structure view is just as useful for building a new document as it is for editing one, since it gives you immediate feedback on whether the shape you're creating is what you intended.

YAML Editor & Viewer - Edit YAML Online

Overview

Introduction

Reading raw YAML and mentally tracking which indentation level you're at gets harder the deeper a document nests. This editor pairs a plain text panel with a live, read-only tree view of the parsed structure, so the shape of your data is always visible alongside the text that produces it.

It's built for active editing sessions, not one-off conversions: keep it open while writing a config file, and the structure view gives you continuous feedback instead of a single validate-then-done check.

What Is YAML Editor & Viewer?

A YAML editor and viewer is a text editing panel paired with a live rendering of the document's parsed structure, updated on every change.

Unlike the YAML Validator's summary stats, the tree view here shows every key, value, and nesting level explicitly, indented and colored by type, so you can visually confirm the document's shape matches what you intended.

How YAML Editor & Viewer Works

Every keystroke in the text panel triggers a re-parse of the full document. On success, the resulting value is walked recursively to render a colored, indented tree; on failure, the tree view pauses and the parser's error location is shown instead.

Because parsing happens on every change, feedback is effectively instant, there's no separate button to click or step to run.

When To Use YAML Editor & Viewer

Use it while actively writing or modifying a YAML document and you want continuous confirmation that your edits produce the structure you expect.

It's also useful for exploring an unfamiliar YAML file, since the tree view makes deep nesting easier to follow than scanning indentation by eye.

Often used alongside YAML Validator and YAML Formatter & Prettifier.

Features

Advantages

Runs entirely client-side.
Live feedback on every edit, not just at a single validation step.
Tree view makes deep nesting and structure immediately legible.
Clearly distinguishes valid states from mid-edit invalid states.

Limitations

The tree view is read-only; edits happen in the text panel, not by directly manipulating the tree.
Comments aren't shown in the structure view, since they fall outside YAML's data model.
Only the first document in a multi-document stream is parsed and displayed.

Examples

Nested config

Input

name: api
config:
  debug: false
  retries: 3

Output

name: api
config:
  debug: false
  retries: 3

The tree view renders "config" as a nested branch with "debug" and "retries" as its children, each colored by type.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Keep this open in a side tab while iterating on a config file for continuous structural feedback.
Use the tree view to sanity-check that a value you expected as a list didn't accidentally end up as a single nested object, or vice versa.
Fix parse errors as soon as they appear rather than continuing to type past them.

Developer Notes

This reuses `parseYaml()` from the shared YAML core module, the same function every other tool on this site's YAML category uses, and renders its result with a small recursive React component that walks the parsed value and colors scalars by JavaScript `typeof`. No separate editor library or syntax-aware textarea is used; the text panel is the same `CodeInput` component used across every tool here.

YAML Editor & Viewer Use Cases

Writing or editing a Kubernetes manifest with live structural feedback
Exploring an unfamiliar or deeply nested YAML file
Sanity-checking that an edit produced the intended list or object shape

Common Mistakes

Expecting the tree view to be directly editable, when changes are made in the text panel.
Assuming a temporarily blank tree view mid-edit means something is broken, rather than a normal in-progress invalid state.

Tips

Watch the tree view's shape (list vs. mapping) after an edit to catch accidental structural changes immediately.
Pair this with the YAML Formatter once you're done editing, to get consistent, clean indentation on the final result.

YAML Editor & Viewer