serdeval

SerdeVal

A privacy-focused, blazingly fast data format validator supporting 14+ formats including JSON, YAML, XML, TOML, CSV, GraphQL, Markdown, and more.

Privacy-focused: All validation happens locally on your machine.

🌐 Live Demo

freedatavalidator.xyz - Try it online (client-side validation)

🚀 Features

• 🔒 Privacy-First: No logging, tracking, or data retention
• ⚡ Blazingly Fast: Zero-dependency Go implementation
• 🎯 Auto-Detection: Automatically detects data formats
• 📱 Multiple Interfaces: CLI, Go library, and web interface
• 🌐 Cross-Platform: Windows, macOS, and Linux support
• 🧠 Smart Formatting: Beautifies and validates in one step
• 📊 Developer-Friendly: JSON output for CI/CD pipelines

Supported Formats

📦 Installation

Using Go

# As a CLI tool
go install github.com/akhilesharora/serdeval/cmd/serdeval@latest

# As a library
go get github.com/akhilesharora/serdeval/pkg/validator

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest binary for your platform from the releases page.

From Source

Linux/macOS

git clone https://github.com/akhilesharora/serdeval
cd serdeval
make build

Windows

git clone https://github.com/akhilesharora/serdeval
cd serdeval
go build -o serdeval.exe ./cmd/serdeval

Development Setup

For contributors, set up pre-commit hooks to ensure code quality:

# Install pre-commit hooks
make pre-commit

# Or manually
./scripts/setup-hooks.sh

This will install hooks that:

• Format code automatically
• Run tests before push
• Check for linting issues
• Prevent commits with formatting errors

Deployment

For server deployment, copy deploy.example.sh to deploy.sh and customize it with your specific configuration:

cp deploy.example.sh deploy.sh
# Edit deploy.sh with your server details

🖥️ Usage

Command Line Interface

Basic Usage

# Validate a single file (auto-detects format)
serdeval validate config.json

# Validate multiple files
serdeval validate config.json data.yaml settings.toml

# Validate from stdin
echo '{"name": "John", "age": 30}' | serdeval validate

# Specify format explicitly
serdeval validate --format json config.txt

# Output as JSON for CI/CD pipelines
serdeval validate --json config.json

# Start web interface
serdeval web --port 8080

Validate Each Format

# JSON files
serdeval validate package.json
serdeval validate data.json

# YAML files
serdeval validate docker-compose.yaml
serdeval validate config.yml

# XML files
serdeval validate pom.xml
serdeval validate web.xml

# TOML files
serdeval validate Cargo.toml
serdeval validate pyproject.toml

# CSV files
serdeval validate data.csv
serdeval validate report.csv

# GraphQL files
serdeval validate schema.graphql
serdeval validate query.gql

# INI/Config files
serdeval validate config.ini
serdeval validate settings.cfg
serdeval validate app.conf

# HCL/Terraform files
serdeval validate main.tf
serdeval validate variables.tfvars
serdeval validate config.hcl

# Protobuf text format
serdeval validate message.textproto
serdeval validate data.pbtxt

# Markdown files
serdeval validate README.md
serdeval validate docs.markdown

# JSON Lines files
serdeval validate logs.jsonl
serdeval validate events.ndjson

# Jupyter notebooks
serdeval validate analysis.ipynb

# Python requirements
serdeval validate requirements.txt
serdeval validate requirements-dev.txt

# Dockerfiles
serdeval validate Dockerfile
serdeval validate Dockerfile.prod

Go Library

Basic Usage

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "log"
    
    "github.com/akhilesharora/serdeval/pkg/validator"
)

func main() {
    // Auto-detect format
    data := []byte(`{"name": "John", "age": 30}`)
    result := validator.ValidateAuto(data)
    
    if result.Valid {
        fmt.Printf("Valid %s data\n", result.Format)
    } else {
        log.Fatalf("Invalid data: %s", result.Error)
    }
}

Examples for Each Format

// JSON Validation
jsonValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatJSON)
result := jsonValidator.ValidateString(`{"name": "test", "value": 123}`)
fmt.Printf("JSON valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// YAML Validation
yamlValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatYAML)
result = yamlValidator.ValidateString(`
name: test
value: 123
items:
  - one
  - two
`)
fmt.Printf("YAML valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// XML Validation
xmlValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatXML)
result = xmlValidator.ValidateString(`<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <name>test</name>
  <value>123</value>
</root>`)
fmt.Printf("XML valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// TOML Validation
tomlValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatTOML)
result = tomlValidator.ValidateString(`
[server]
host = "localhost"
port = 8080
`)
fmt.Printf("TOML valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// CSV Validation
csvValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatCSV)
result = csvValidator.ValidateString(`name,age,city
John,30,NYC
Jane,25,LA`)
fmt.Printf("CSV valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// GraphQL Validation
graphqlValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatGraphQL)
result = graphqlValidator.ValidateString(`
query GetUser {
  user(id: "123") {
    name
    email
  }
}`)
fmt.Printf("GraphQL valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// INI Validation
iniValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatINI)
result = iniValidator.ValidateString(`
[database]
host = localhost
port = 5432
`)
fmt.Printf("INI valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// HCL Validation
hclValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatHCL)
result = hclValidator.ValidateString(`
resource "aws_instance" "example" {
  ami           = "ami-12345"
  instance_type = "t2.micro"
}`)
fmt.Printf("HCL valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// Protobuf Text Validation
protoValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatProtobuf)
result = protoValidator.ValidateString(`
type_url: "type.googleapis.com/example"
value: "\n\x05hello"
`)
fmt.Printf("Protobuf valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// Markdown Validation
mdValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatMarkdown)
result = mdValidator.ValidateString(`# Title

This is **bold** text.

- Item 1
- Item 2
`)
fmt.Printf("Markdown valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// JSON Lines Validation
jsonlValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatJSONL)
result = jsonlValidator.ValidateString(`{"event": "login", "user": "john"}
{"event": "logout", "user": "john"}
{"event": "login", "user": "jane"}`)
fmt.Printf("JSONL valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// Jupyter Notebook Validation
jupyterValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatJupyter)
result = jupyterValidator.ValidateString(`{
  "cells": [],
  "metadata": {"kernelspec": {"name": "python3"}},
  "nbformat": 4,
  "nbformat_minor": 2
}`)
fmt.Printf("Jupyter valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// Requirements.txt Validation
reqValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatRequirements)
result = reqValidator.ValidateString(`numpy==1.21.0
pandas>=1.3.0
scikit-learn~=1.0.0`)
fmt.Printf("Requirements valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

// Dockerfile Validation
dockerValidator, _ := validator.NewValidator(validator.FormatDockerfile)
result = dockerValidator.ValidateString(`FROM python:3.9
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
CMD ["python", "app.py"]`)
fmt.Printf("Dockerfile valid: %v\n", result.Valid)

Web Interface

Start the built-in web server:

serdeval web --port 8080

Then visit http://localhost:8080 for a user-friendly interface with:

• Real-time validation as you type
• Auto-format with beautification
• Copy-to-clipboard functionality
• Format auto-detection
• 100% client-side processing (your data never leaves your browser)

🛠️ Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.22 or higher
• Make (optional, for convenience commands)

Building

# Build for current platform
make build

# Build for all platforms
make build-all

# Run tests
make test

# Run linters
make lint

# Format code
make fmt

# Run benchmarks
make bench

Testing

# Run all tests
go test ./...

# Run tests with coverage
go test -coverprofile=coverage.out ./...

# Run benchmarks
go test -bench=. ./...

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Quick Start for Contributors

1. Fork the repository
2. Set up development environment: make pre-commit
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests: make test
5. Submit a pull request

Please read our Code of Conduct.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Built with ❤️ for the developer community
• Inspired by the need for privacy-focused validation tools
• Thanks to all contributors who help improve this project

Visit SerdeVal | Documentation | Report Issues