JSON formatter Chrome plugin now goes closed-source and injects adware

The JSON Formatter project has posted a notice that it is ending open-source development and moving to a closed-source commercial model to build a more comprehensive API-browsing tool.

The existing repository will remain public as is, so others can still fork it. Instead, users who just need a simple local-only JSON viewing extension are directed to switch to JSON Formatter Classic on the Chrome Web Store.

The key changes are as follows.

• The project status has switched to archived
• Going forward, development will be as a commercial product, not open source
• Existing users are recommended to use JSON Formatter Classic
• The repository will be left in place, but will no longer be updated as the final open-source version

The README also summarizes the features of the existing extension.

• Fast JSON rendering
• dark mode
• syntax highlighting
• Collapsible tree structure and indentation guides
• Clickable URLs
• A toggle button between raw/parsed JSON
• Exposes the parsed JSON as the global variable json

Developers can still build from source, and can create a local extension using bun install, bun run build, and bun run watch, then install it in Chrome as an unpacked extension.