frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Show HN: Convert Large CSV/XLSX to JSON or XML in Browser

https://csvforge.com
41•Botlabs•12mo ago
Hello HN, I'm excited to share a project I've been working on: A simple, fast way to process huge CSV and XLSX files directly in your browser and export them as clean JSON or XML

Here's a few things that makes this converter different: - runs in the browser - all parsing and conversion is client side can handle data any size data - automatically detects delimiters, encodings, and data types as it parses - Live preview with column renaming, search/replace, and data cleanup - Export to JSON or XML — clean, structured output that can be used for API or Databases

backstory: I built this tool for myself. I work with massive CSV and TXT files, some over 10GB, and opening them in Excel would freeze my laptop, some of the online converters only limits to a certain size, so I started learning Python and pandas but ended up wasting so much time trying different delimiters or fixing badly structured data just to make it usable, and I thought this would be a really fun project to build

I'd love some feedback. Thank you

URL: https://csvforge.com

Comments

sverhagen•12mo ago
"Runs in the browser" and "client side" isn't as much of a selling point to me as it's made out to be. It's a claim that I can't really validate until it's too late. If it's a commercial service I'm going to have to pay for, then maybe you should go all the way in gaining my trust with whatever safeguards it takes, so that I no longer care if I upload my data to your server or not.
rustc•12mo ago
> then maybe you should go all the way in gaining my trust with whatever safeguards it takes

What kind of safeguards are possible with a web app?

sverhagen•12mo ago
I think this comes down to legally-enforceable contracts with some teeth. A lot of business seem okay to trust Google's cloud products, or Microsoft's? I think as private person with limited means for litigation, you're likely sol.
hahn-kev•12mo ago
Yeah I really wish there was a way for this to be enforced by the browser that the end user could trust. It would have to be a standard, but outside of opening dev tools and toggling offline mode there's no way to be sure.

The funny thing is that it feels safer to download a desktop app and give it the same data even though it's usually much harder to validate if it's shipping your data somewhere else.

strogonoff•12mo ago
There’s a cheap trick to make sure a website that claims to do everything client-side actually does everything client-side:

1. Open the site in an incognito window.

2. Turn off your Internet.

3. Do what you’ve got to do.

4. Close browser window.

As a bonus, and this makes it better than just flipping the offline switch in developer tools, if you turn off Internet in a way that keeps the browser thinking it’s online, you can also peek at whether any network requests are made (for pathological cases where the app does everything locally but phones home anyway).

Botlabs•12mo ago
Sure, but you can validate it dev tools exist for a reason. Honestly, I just can’t afford the storage costs if users are uploading 50GB+ CSVs. It’d be a huge strain on any server, not to mention painfully slow for users. Running everything client side was the easiest and most practical way to build this MVP at least for me thanks for the feedback
o11c•12mo ago
"Large" generally means "bigger than RAM"; 10GB is medium-sized these days since it fits in most people's RAM. Does the browser actually have the (web worker?) APIs needed to stream and "upload" and "download"?
shubhamjain•12mo ago
I don't get it. Are JSON and XML files more friendly to import vs CSV files? I always assumed CSVs were the standard. Any reasons to prefer structured formats?

Shameless plug: I am working on a similar problem of Excel not being a great tool for large datasets. My desktop app[1] lets you import raw data files and query them using SQL. (The website needs to be updated, the app looks much better than the current screenshots).

[1]: https://textquery.app

Botlabs•12mo ago
yes they are a lot easier to work with when inserting into the database
snappr021•12mo ago
This type of thing is fairly trivial to create with ChatGPT running entirely locally in HTML.

A couple of kb of open standard vanilla js that does some simple things faster than legacy spreadsheets etc ever could.

Even to the point of creating invoices, reports etc based on standard filters stored in local storage…

oschvr•12mo ago
Looks like you made it in lovable. It has that characteristic UI.

If so, how much time did it take you?

Botlabs•12mo ago
thanks for your comment, it took me almost 3 weeks to build this
constantcrying•12mo ago
I think it should go without saying, but never use this with anything more relevant than a hobby project.

Doing this with any kind of data you don't fully own (e.g. data from your company) is a terrible idea, from so many standpoints. That it is "allegedly" running locally is not making it much better.

I think my question to OP is, who is this for. Any developer can write up a convert for his own datasets, in basically any case I can think of where you are handling large amounts of data you are building a pipeline to do cleanup, renaming, conversion, etc. Who wants to have a part of that pipeline be uploading the data into the browser?

Ghostty is leaving GitHub

https://mitchellh.com/writing/ghostty-leaving-github
615•WadeGrimridge•56m ago•143 comments

OpenAI models coming to Amazon Bedrock: Interview with OpenAI and AWS CEOs

https://stratechery.com/2026/an-interview-with-openai-ceo-sam-altman-and-aws-ceo-matt-garman-abou...
70•translocator•1h ago•20 comments

A playable DOOM MCP app

https://chrisnager.com/blog/doom-runs-in-chatgpt-and-claude/
55•chrisnager•1h ago•20 comments

Warp is now Open-Source

https://github.com/warpdotdev/warp
92•doppp•3h ago•31 comments

CJIT: C, Just in Time

https://dyne.org/cjit/
33•smartmic•1h ago•3 comments

Waymo in Portland

https://waymo.com/blog/shorts/waymo-in-portland/
173•xnx•2h ago•203 comments

Claude.ai unavailable and elevated errors on the API

https://status.claude.com/incidents/9l93x2ht4s5w
208•shorsher•2h ago•172 comments

Your phone is about to stop being yours

https://keepandroidopen.org/en/
585•doener•5h ago•316 comments

Patch applies fake diffs from commit messages

https://samizdat.dev/phantom-patch/
39•reconquestio•1d ago•6 comments

GitHub RCE Vulnerability: CVE-2026-3854 Breakdown

https://www.wiz.io/blog/github-rce-vulnerability-cve-2026-3854
135•bo0tzz•4h ago•38 comments

Show HN: Drive any macOS app in the background without stealing the cursor

https://github.com/trycua/cua
10•frabonacci•4h ago•1 comments

I have officially retired from Emacs

https://nullprogram.com/blog/2026/04/26/
138•Fudgel•2d ago•82 comments

Infisical (YC W23) Is Hiring Full Stack Software Engineers (Remote)

https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/infisical/782b9da8-20e1-48b2-919e-6c5430c58628
1•vmatsiiako•3h ago

Intel Arc Pro B70 Review

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/intel-arc-pro-b70-review/
10•zdw•4d ago•0 comments

Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

https://github.com/localsend/localsend
680•bilsbie•8h ago•217 comments

VibeVoice: Open-source frontier voice AI

https://github.com/microsoft/VibeVoice
287•tosh•8h ago•162 comments

Who owns the code Claude Code wrote?

https://legallayer.substack.com/p/who-owns-the-claude-code-wrote
195•senaevren•9h ago•229 comments

UAE to leave OPEC

https://www.ft.com/content/8c354f2d-3e66-47f1-aad4-9b4aa30e386d
251•bazzmt•7h ago•368 comments

AISLE Discovers 38 CVEs in OpenEMR Healthcare Software

https://aisle.com/blog/aisle-discovers-38-critical-security-vulnerabilities-in-healthcare-softwar...
156•mmsc•4h ago•98 comments

Show HN: Live Sun and Moon Dashboard with NASA Footage

https://www.lumara-space.app/
141•beeswaxpat•7h ago•45 comments

Laguna XS.2 and M.1

https://poolside.ai/blog/laguna-a-deeper-dive
81•tosh•4h ago•34 comments

Warp is now open-source

https://www.warp.dev/blog/warp-is-now-open-source
83•meetpateltech•4h ago•31 comments

GitHub Actions is the weakest link

https://nesbitt.io/2026/04/28/github-actions-is-the-weakest-link.html
171•dochtman•8h ago•58 comments

Things C++26 define_static_array can't do

https://quuxplusone.github.io/blog/2026/04/24/define-static-array/
36•jandeboevrie•2d ago•14 comments

GitHub Copilot code review will start consuming GitHub Actions minutes

https://github.blog/changelog/2026-04-27-github-copilot-code-review-will-start-consuming-github-a...
209•whtsky•11h ago•145 comments

Talkie: a 13B vintage language model from 1930

https://talkie-lm.com/introducing-talkie
613•jekude•22h ago•244 comments

A good AGENTS.md is a model upgrade. A bad one is worse than no docs at all

https://www.augmentcode.com/blog/how-to-write-good-agents-dot-md-files
55•gmays•2h ago•11 comments

ASML became the chokepoint for cutting-edge chips

https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-worlds-most-complex-machine/
298•mellosouls•3d ago•179 comments

FCC Funding Application Notes Paramount Will Be 49.5% Foreign-Owned Post-Merger

https://deadline.com/2026/04/paramount-fcc-request-wbd-merger-middle-east-1236873732/
176•throw0101c•4h ago•114 comments

Bankruptcies increase 11.9 percent

https://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judiciary-news/2026/04/23/bankruptcies-increase-119-percent
141•jaredwiener•1h ago•79 comments