A JSON response nested five or six levels deep can feel like navigating a maze, especially when you're trying to find one specific field buried inside arrays of objects inside more objects.

A practical approach

1. Format it first

Never try to trace a minified, single-line JSON blob by eye. Format it with proper indentation first — the visual structure alone often makes the path to your value obvious.

2. Work top-down

Identify the top-level keys first, then drill into the specific branch that contains what you need, rather than scanning the entire payload line by line.

3. Use bracket notation to trace the path

Write out the access path as you go — response.data.users[0].address.city — so you have a clear mental (or literal) map of exactly where your target value lives.

Let formatting do the heavy lifting

A good JSON formatter with indentation and collapsible sections turns an intimidating wall of braces into a navigable tree, which is often the single biggest unlock for debugging nested data quickly.