YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-friendly data serialization standard widely used for configuration files in tools like Docker Compose, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Ansible, and many others.
Features
- YAML → JSON: Parse YAML and output minified or pretty-printed JSON
- JSON → YAML: Convert JSON to clean, readable YAML format
- Validate Only: Check if YAML is syntactically correct without converting
- Clear error messages with line and column numbers
Common YAML Pitfalls
- Tabs vs spaces: YAML forbids tabs for indentation — always use spaces
- Colons in strings: Strings containing
: must be quoted - Special values:
yes, no, on, off are parsed as booleans - Anchors & aliases: Use
&anchor and *alias to reuse values
Use Cases
- Validating Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, and GitHub Actions workflows
- Converting API YAML responses to JSON for JavaScript processing
- Debugging YAML parse errors in CI/CD pipelines