YAML Criticism and Alternatives

Comments debate the drawbacks of YAML as a data format, including its complexity, parsing issues, and overengineering, often preferring JSON, TOML, or other alternatives for configuration and serialization.

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Keywords

ansible.com JSON XML TAP POV NO noyaml.com JINJA2 TOML YAML yaml json format templating whitespace load file format superset gotchas strict

Sample Comments

dkersten • Mar 1, 2019 • View on HN

What's wrong with YAML and what would you prefer and why?

rytis • Nov 22, 2013 • View on HN

Just out of curiosity, what's the problem with YAML?

raziel2p • Jul 11, 2015 • View on HN

I hate editing JSON by hand. Why not YAML?

whatshisface • Jan 24, 2022 • View on HN

Amazing that people use YAML if it does that.

philipov • Sep 27, 2017 • View on HN

Do you support yaml for people who dislike json?

GuinansEyebrows • Mar 13, 2025 • View on HN

They’re not worse than YAML…

zacharyvoase • May 28, 2012 • View on HN

Can I ask why YAML wasn't good enough?

richardwhiuk • Oct 11, 2021 • View on HN

YAML has all of the problems of JSON with some of the problems of XML, and some new ones thrown in. Avoid.

dasmith91 • Apr 15, 2016 • View on HN

So it's YAML with all the cruft of JSON thrown back in?

maxloh • Apr 23, 2023 • View on HN

What's worng with YAML? It seems to be the best of the kind I have seen.