# FracturedJson 18 Hacker News commenters recommended FracturedJson and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Formats JSON in a middle ground between sparse pretty printing and compact output, keeping it readable and short. Critics say some layouts look worse and it requires .NET. ## Why people recommend it - Readable middle ground between sparse and compact (2 comments): "the middle ground between too-sparse pretty printing, and too-compact non-pretty printing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466117)) "This is great! The more human-readable, the better!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46465636)) - Reduces file height for easier viewing (2 comments): "if something can reduce the height of the file thats welcome" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466573)) "need a quick and concise visualization without the ability (or time) to add substantial code" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466717)) - Could suit editors and extensions (2 comments): "I could see FracturedJson being great for a browser extension or preview extension in IDE" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46468475)) "Let's implement this formatting in all code editors and replace YAML with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466577)) ## What people warn about - Requires a .NET runtime to install (2 comments): "I don't think I want this enough to install .NET to get it, so that's that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466793)) "You must install a valid .NET runtime" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46464872)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [gofmt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gofmt.md): 26 recommend - [Black](https://hackerapproved.com/p/black.md): 18 recommend - [Prettier](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prettier.md): 16 recommend - [Oxfmt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/oxfmt.md): 14 recommend - [clang-format](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clang-format.md): 7 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "FracturedJson", https://hackerapproved.com/p/fracturedjson/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).