Toggle pretty-printed JSON in the logs view

[franco-viotti]

Applications often emit one JSON object per log line. In sofka, nested fields are difficult to read in the compact log output. Wrapping helps with width, but it does not show the JSON structure.

Would a toggle between raw logs and indented JSON fit the logs view?

The proposed behavior:

• Pretty-print valid JSON objects and arrays, keeping plain text and malformed JSON unchanged in mixed streams.
• Apply the selected format to buffered records and new arrivals without restarting the stream.
• Keep source labels and timestamps associated with each record, and support the existing filtering, wrapping, and scrolling controls.
• Keep copy/save output in its original form so it remains useful for downstream tools.

For example, this record:

{"level":"info","message":"request completed","request":{"method":"GET","status":200}}

would display as:

{
  "level": "info",
  "message": "request completed",
  "request": {
    "method": "GET",
    "status": 200
  }
}

We tried a local prototype using J to toggle the format, and it has been useful in practice. The prototype passed just check and was exercised with a development client against a local API fixture streaming JSON and plain text, including narrow-terminal wrapping, filtering, timestamps, and saving. No issue or PR has been opened; this is to check whether the feature is wanted before proposing an upstream change.

Would you be interested in this? Happy to adapt the scope, key binding, and copy/save behavior to your preferences.

[nklmilojevic]

Agreed: add a J display toggle for JSON objects and arrays, while keeping raw records for filtering and application copy/save. The issue includes limits for formatting work and checks for mixed streams, wrapping, and scrolling. Your prototype can be adapted to this scope.

Implementation scope and acceptance checks: #645