Auto-Indent Code Online Free — Fix Broken Indentation in Seconds

Indentation is what makes code readable. When it's wrong — collapsed, inconsistent, or mixed tabs-and-spaces — your brain has to work harder to parse the structure. Every extra second spent fighting with indentation is a second not spent thinking about logic.

The fastest fix: paste the code into the online formatter, click Format, and get perfectly indented output back. This page explains how it works and which scenarios benefit most.

Why Code Indentation Breaks — and the Fastest Fix

Broken indentation usually comes from one of these sources:

• Copy-paste from websites — browsers add or remove spaces when copying, especially from code blocks in articles or documentation
• Mixed tabs and spaces — mixing the two is the most common indentation crime. Python will refuse to run it; other languages just look awful
• Collapsed or minified code — code that was minified for production is often a single line. The formatter expands it fully
• Multiple contributors — different editors with different default indentation settings create mixed-depth files
• Export from IDEs or tools — some export tools strip indentation or use non-standard spacing

The fix in all cases: paste into the code formatter, select your language, set tab width to 2 or 4, and click Format. The formatter re-parses the code structure and re-indents it from scratch.

Supported Languages for Auto-Indentation

The formatter supports auto-indentation for:

• JavaScript — including JSX, ES modules, async functions
• TypeScript — including TSX, interfaces, generics, decorators
• CSS — including media queries, keyframes, nested rules
• HTML — including nested elements, attributes, script and style blocks
• JSON — including deeply nested objects and arrays
• GraphQL — queries, mutations, schema definitions

Languages NOT supported: Python, Java, PHP, C#, C++, Go, Ruby, SQL, XML, YAML. For those, you'll need a language-specific formatter or IDE plugin.

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2-Space vs 4-Space Indentation — Which to Use

The tab width setting controls how many spaces each indentation level uses. Choosing correctly makes the output match your project's style:

Language/Ecosystem	Common convention
JavaScript / Node.js	2 spaces (Airbnb, Google, Standard)
TypeScript / Angular	2 spaces
React projects	2 spaces
Python	4 spaces (PEP 8 — but not supported here)
CSS	2 spaces for most frameworks
HTML	2 spaces in most modern projects

If you're not sure, check the project's existing files or its .editorconfig or .prettierrc.

IDE Auto-Indent Shortcuts vs Online Formatting

Most IDEs have an auto-indent shortcut for when you are working locally:

• VS Code — Shift+Alt+F (Windows/Linux) or Shift+Option+F (Mac) to format entire file
• IntelliJ / WebStorm — Ctrl+Alt+L (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Option+L (Mac)
• Xcode — Ctrl+I to re-indent selected code
• Sublime Text — no built-in, use the HTML/CSS/JS Prettify package

These local shortcuts require the file to be open in the IDE and the right formatters installed. When you're outside your IDE environment — on a different machine, reviewing code in a browser, or working from a tablet — the online formatter is the zero-setup alternative. See formatting code without VS Code for more on this workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I paste just a code snippet (not a full file)?

Yes. The formatter works on partial code — a single function, a few CSS rules, or a JSON snippet. It does not require a full, complete file.

Will fixing indentation change my code's behavior?

No for JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, HTML, JSON, and GraphQL — whitespace is not significant in these languages. The exception: Python uses indentation to define scope, but Python is not supported by this formatter.

Can it convert tabs to spaces?

Yes. The formatter always outputs spaces (the standard for Prettier). If your code uses tabs, the output will use the number of spaces specified by your tab width setting.