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Share JSON with a link: JSONGuy's share feature, REST API, and MCP tool

2026-09-07

JSONGuy now lets you share JSON with a link. Format or paste something, click Share, and you get a short URL anyone can open — a read-only, syntax-highlighted view of that JSON. And because the same capability is exposed as a REST API and an MCP tool, you can generate share links from your own code or from any AI client. Here's the whole picture.

The share feature, in the UI

In the formatter, a Share button sits next to Copy and Download. Click it and a panel pops up with a link like:

https://jsonguy.airankone.com/share/Abc123xy

Opening that link shows a read-only page: the JSON pretty-printed and syntax-highlighted, with a Copy button. It's not the full editor — just a clean view of the data, so whoever you send it to can read it without any setup.

One thing worth being clear about: formatting and validation are still 100% local. Only when you click Share does the data get stored — on our server, under a random id — so we can serve that link.

The REST API

The share capability is also a plain HTTP API, documented with OpenAPI at /openapi.json. Two endpoints:

Create a share — POST /api/share:

curl -X POST https://jsonguy.airankone.com/api/share \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "{\"name\": \"John\", \"age\": 30}"}'

// {"id":"Abc123xy","url":"https://jsonguy.airankone.com/share/Abc123xy"}

Retrieve a share — GET /api/share/{id}:

curl https://jsonguy.airankone.com/api/share/Abc123xy

// {"id":"Abc123xy","data":"{\"name\": \"John\", \"age\": 30}"}

The API accepts up to 200KB per share and returns a short, opaque id. No API key is required for reading; writes are rate-bounded by the same endpoint that powers the UI.

The MCP tool

If you use Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client, the share capability is now the fourth tool on the JSONGuy MCP server, alongside format_json, validate_json, and repair_json:

  • share_json — takes a JSON string and returns a shareable URL.

So an agent can format a response and then share it in the same conversation — useful when you want to hand a chunk of JSON to a teammate, a GitHub issue, or a support thread as a link instead of a paste.

What it's good for

  • Bug reports. Share the exact response payload with a link instead of a 200-line paste.
  • Sample data. Hand someone a clean, highlighted example they can copy.
  • Automating shares. Generate share links from a script or CI job via the REST API.
  • AI workflows. Let an agent share JSON mid-conversation through the MCP tool.

Try it

Paste some JSON into the formatter, click Share, and open the link. Or wire the API into your own tool — the OpenAPI spec is at /openapi.json.