Why isn't my json data formatted nicely in the browser? - express

Question

I'm learning Express and I just built a JSON API with CRUD operations to the database
It's working but I'm wondering why my JSON data is formatted like that on the browser
[{"_id":"5f253d105f194d4c8074227d","firstName":"John","lastName":"Doe","age":38,"__v":0},{"_id":"5f253d3a5f194d4c8074227e","firstName":"Jane","lastName":"Doe","age":33,"__v":0}]
I want it to be formatted like
[
{
"_id":"5f253d105f194d4c8074227d",
"firstName":"John",
"lastName":"Doe",
"age":38,
"__v":0},
{
"_id":"5f253d3a5f194d4c8074227e",
"firstName":"Jane",
"lastName":"Doe",
"age":33,
"__v":0}
]
This is the function I use to get the users
router.get("/", async (req, res) => {
try {
const getUsers = await Users.find();
res.json(getUsers);
} catch (err) {
res.json({ message: err.message });
}
});

Answer 1

You only need a JSON formatter for your browser, you can use a formatter like JSON Formatter for Chrome or for JSONView Firefox. Or you can test your API responses with any API client (like Insomnia, Postman, Postwoman...) instead of testing it on your browser
Edit:
If you want (for any reason) to send pre-formatted/human readable JSON responses, you can do so by using JSON.stringify, example:
app.get("/formatted", (req, res) => {
const formattedResponse = JSON.stringify(data, null, 2)
res.type('json').send(formattedResponse)
});