Visualizing AWS WAF Rules

If you’ve ever worked with AWS WAF rules, you know the struggle: creating rules directly via JSON works, but when you go back to the AWS console, you often get stuck with this dreaded message:

Cannot switch from JSON editor to visual editor.
A rule that contains nested statements or more than 5 statements is not supported. You must view the rule in the JSON viewer.

That means once your rules get a little more complex, with nested AND/OR statements or more than five conditions, the visual editor in AWS just throws up its hands. You’re left staring at raw JSON, which isn’t exactly easy to parse at a glance.

Why This Is a Problem

Hard to understand: Nested JSON statements can get messy very quickly.
Hard to review: Security and DevOps teams often need a quick way to review rules before deploying.
Hard to debug: If something doesn’t behave as expected, reading JSON doesn’t make troubleshooting easier.

In short: AWS gives us power, but not clarity.

Enter WAFViz

That’s why I built WAFViz, a simple tool to visualize AWS WAF rules.

Instead of drowning in JSON, WAFViz turns your rules into a clear, human-friendly visualization. You can:

Upload or paste your JSON rule.
See the hierarchy of AND/OR/NOT conditions.
Share visualizations with your team for reviews.

No more guessing what a deeply nested JSON statement really means.

Example: Before and After

Before: A wall of JSON that only the person who wrote it can decipher.

After: Visualization where you can instantly see what conditions are combined and how.

This makes security reviews faster, collaboration easier, and debugging far less painful.

Try It Out

You can check it out here 👉 https://wafviz.ardd.cloud

If you’re working with AWS WAF rules in JSON, this tool will save you time and sanity.

What’s Next

I’m planning to expand WAFViz with features like:

Import directly from AWS.
Export visual diagrams as PNG/PDF for documentation.
Collaboration mode for teams.

Feedback is super welcome… feel free to reach out and let me know how WAFViz can be more useful for you.

Visualizing AWS WAF Rules

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More from this blog

Why This Is a Problem

Enter WAFViz

Example: Before and After

Try It Out

What’s Next