Just lost a couple hours work generating a custom loot table, when a missing bracket caused the app to overwrite the json with default settings.  Perhaps the mod should behave like most do and simply fail to run, perserving the work done on the config file.

Actually it is behaving like any other plugin where a mistake has been made by the "editor" and reverts to default. This is not unusual behaviour and care must be taken when editing, I usually edit a data file in notepad then verify it with a json validator before i use it to replace the original.

Sorry, I must disagree.  In my experience this is the only plugin where bracket errors result in reloading the default config overwriting any customizations.  I have made bracket or other config errors enough to know better.

You are unfortunately wrong , after 8 years of manually editing data files (I dont use 3rd party programs to do it)  i have found that ALL data changes (with errors) will revert to default when plugin is reloaded. some will give you an error message in console saying that the plugin was unable to be loaded and loading previous version and some dont.
The obvious choice is to validate the file before replacing the original.
I can see that this conversation might extend past my interest in it so will leave it there and unwatch the thread

I want this plugin to have error handling for the data file.

pookins

You are unfortunately wrong , after 8 years of manually editing data files (I dont use 3rd party programs to do it)  i have found that ALL data changes (with errors) will revert to default when plugin is reloaded. some will give you an error message in console saying that the plugin was unable to be loaded and loading previous version and some dont.
The obvious choice is to validate the file before replacing the original.
I can see that this conversation might extend past my interest in it so will leave it there and unwatch the thread