frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

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

https://csvforge.com
41•Botlabs•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y ago
yes they are a lot easier to work with when inserting into the database
snappr021•1y 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•1y ago
Looks like you made it in lovable. It has that characteristic UI.

If so, how much time did it take you?

Botlabs•1y ago
thanks for your comment, it took me almost 3 weeks to build this
constantcrying•1y 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?

Beyond All Reason (Free Total Annihilation Inspired RTS)

https://www.beyondallreason.info
60•mosiuerbarso•1h ago•21 comments

The case against geometric algebra (2024)

https://alexkritchevsky.com/2024/02/28/geometric-algebra.html
52•Hbruz0•2h ago•20 comments

David Ahl's Basic Computer Games Ported to C

https://github.com/proteanthread/bcg
12•theanonymousone•1h ago•3 comments

Anthropic to Require ID Verification for Certain Capabilities Starting July 8

https://old.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1ubm53n/official_anthropic_to_require_identity/
53•bathory•42m ago•32 comments

A 3D voxel game engine written in APL

https://github.com/namgyaaal/avoxelgame
85•sph•5h ago•7 comments

Google Hits 50% IPv6

https://blog.apnic.net/2026/04/28/google-hits-50-ipv6/
215•barqawiz•5h ago•205 comments

Loupe – A iOS app that raises awareness about what native apps can see

https://github.com/mysk-research/loupe
365•Cider9986•1d ago•152 comments

Running MicroVMs in Proxmox VE, the Easy Way

https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2026/06/18/1845
110•zdw•1d ago•9 comments

Zigzag Decoding with AVX-512

https://zeux.io/2026/06/17/zigzag-decoding-avx512/
93•luu•3d ago•18 comments

Renting a sewing machine from the library

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260618-the-weird-and-wonderful-libraries-of-finland
263•sohkamyung•14h ago•151 comments

Two Qwen3 models on one DGX Spark: the residency math

https://www.devashish.me/p/two-qwen3-models-on-one-dgx-spark
9•devashish86•2d ago•1 comments

Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(26)00339-9
254•croes•15h ago•72 comments

Epoll vs. io_uring in Linux

https://sibexi.co/posts/epoll-vs-io_uring/
194•Sibexico•14h ago•49 comments

Windows UI evolution: Clicking an unassociated file

https://movq.de/blog/postings/2026-06-20/0/POSTING-en.html
70•jandeboevrie•7h ago•43 comments

A tale of two path separators

https://alexwlchan.net/2021/slashes/
27•dbaupp•4d ago•8 comments

Developers don't understand CORS (2019)

https://fosterelli.co/developers-dont-understand-cors
247•toilet•11h ago•185 comments

Cosmodial Sky Atlas

https://frankforce.com/cosmodial-sky-atlas/
9•surprisetalk•4d ago•3 comments

15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/17/business/lyme-disease-tick-test/
143•bookofjoe•3d ago•100 comments

Rare medieval bookmark exceeds expectations at auction

https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/76314
14•speckx•4d ago•5 comments

Show HN: TownSquare, a tiny presence layer for websites

https://townsquare.cauenapier.com/
208•cauenapier•1d ago•110 comments

SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible

https://www.smpte.org/blog/smpte-makes-its-standards-freely-accessible-openingstandards-library-t...
269•zdw•20h ago•90 comments

Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controllers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller
48•dhorthy•1d ago•22 comments

DOS Game "F-15 Strike Eagle II" reversing project needs DOS test pilots

https://neuviemeporte.github.io/f15-se2/2026/06/20/needyou.html
265•LowLevelMahn•22h ago•68 comments

Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/20/americas/brazil-hackers-unauthorized-alert-latam
152•zdw•17h ago•113 comments

UHF X11: X11 Built for VisionOS and Apple Vision Pro

https://www.lispm.net/apps/uhf-x11/
211•zdw•20h ago•48 comments

Guide to the TD4 4-bit DIY CPU

https://www.philipzucker.com/td4-4bit-cpu/
51•andrewstuart•2d ago•5 comments

Whole cross-sectional human ultrasound tomography

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-026-01660-4
87•lnyan•3d ago•14 comments

Alice is impatient

https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/06/19/waiting.html
113•birdculture•16h ago•35 comments

Building reliable agentic AI systems

https://martinfowler.com/articles/reliable-llm-bayer.html
118•sarangk90•8h ago•28 comments

Temporary Cloudflare accounts for AI agents

https://blog.cloudflare.com/temporary-accounts/
223•farhadhf•1d ago•118 comments