diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/channels.py b/pyiron_workflow/channels.py
index a0ee290a..fd418750 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/channels.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/channels.py
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 
 from pyiron_snippets.singleton import Singleton
 
-from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_interface_mixins import HasChannel, HasLabel, UsesState
-from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_to_dict import HasToDict
+from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_interface_mixins import HasChannel, HasLabel
+from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_to_dict import HasStateDisplay
 from pyiron_workflow.type_hinting import (
     valid_value,
     type_hint_is_as_or_more_specific_than,
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class ChannelConnectionError(Exception):
     pass
 
 
-class Channel(UsesState, HasChannel, HasLabel, HasToDict, ABC):
+class Channel(HasChannel, HasLabel, HasStateDisplay, ABC):
     """
     Channels facilitate the flow of information (data or control signals) into and
     out of :class:`HasIO` objects (namely nodes).
@@ -220,13 +220,6 @@ def copy_connections(self, other: Channel) -> None:
             self.disconnect(*new_connections)
             raise e
 
-    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
-        return {
-            "label": self.label,
-            "connected": self.connected,
-            "connections": [f"{c.owner.label}.{c.label}" for c in self.connections],
-        }
-
     def __getstate__(self):
         state = super().__getstate__()
         state["connections"] = []
@@ -235,6 +228,12 @@ def __getstate__(self):
         # bloat the data being sent cross-process if the owner is shipped off
         return state
 
+    def display_state(self, state=None, ignore_private=True):
+        state = dict(self.__getstate__()) if state is None else state
+        state["owner"] = state["owner"].full_label  # JSON can't handle recursion
+        state["connections"] = [c.full_label for c in self.connections]
+        return super().display_state(state=state, ignore_private=ignore_private)
+
 
 class NotData(metaclass=Singleton):
     """
@@ -468,13 +467,6 @@ def _figure_out_who_is_who(self, other: DataChannel) -> (OutputData, InputData):
     def __str__(self):
         return str(self.value)
 
-    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
-        d = super().to_dict()
-        d["value"] = repr(self.value)
-        d["ready"] = self.ready
-        d["type_hint"] = str(self.type_hint)
-        return d
-
     def activate_strict_hints(self) -> None:
         self.strict_hints = True
 
@@ -488,6 +480,11 @@ def __getstate__(self):
         # owning macro's responsibility
         return state
 
+    def display_state(self, state=None, ignore_private=True):
+        state = dict(self.__getstate__()) if state is None else state
+        self._make_entry_public(state, "_value", "value")
+        return super().display_state(state=state, ignore_private=ignore_private)
+
 
 class InputData(DataChannel):
     @property
@@ -623,11 +620,6 @@ def __call__(self, other: typing.Optional[OutputSignal] = None) -> None:
     def __str__(self):
         return f"{self.label} runs {self.callback.__name__}"
 
-    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
-        d = super().to_dict()
-        d["callback"] = self.callback.__name__
-        return d
-
     def _connect_output_signal(self, signal: OutputSignal):
         self.connect(signal)
 
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/io.py b/pyiron_workflow/io.py
index 8ac0e437..c3ca7d08 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/io.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/io.py
@@ -28,12 +28,11 @@
     HasChannel,
     HasLabel,
     HasRun,
-    UsesState,
 )
-from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_to_dict import HasToDict
+from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_to_dict import HasStateDisplay
 
 
-class IO(HasToDict, ABC):
+class IO(HasStateDisplay, ABC):
     """
     IO is a convenience layer for holding and accessing multiple input/output channels.
     It allows key and dot-based access to the underlying channels.
@@ -156,14 +155,6 @@ def __dir__(self):
     def __str__(self):
         return f"{self.__class__.__name__} {self.labels}"
 
-    def to_dict(self):
-        return {
-            "label": self.__class__.__name__,
-            "connected": self.connected,
-            "fully_connected": self.fully_connected,
-            "channels": {l: c.to_dict() for l, c in self.channel_dict.items()},
-        }
-
     def __getstate__(self):
         # Compatibility with python <3.11
         return dict(self.__dict__)
@@ -173,6 +164,13 @@ def __setstate__(self, state):
         # __setstate__ the same way we need it in __init__
         self.__dict__["channel_dict"] = state["channel_dict"]
 
+    def display_state(self, state=None, ignore_private=True):
+        state = dict(self.__getstate__()) if state is None else state
+        for k, v in state["channel_dict"].items():
+            state[k] = v
+        del state["channel_dict"]
+        return super().display_state(state=state, ignore_private=ignore_private)
+
 
 class DataIO(IO, ABC):
     def _assign_a_non_channel_value(self, channel: DataChannel, value) -> None:
@@ -189,11 +187,6 @@ def to_list(self):
     def ready(self):
         return all([c.ready for c in self])
 
-    def to_dict(self):
-        d = super().to_dict()
-        d["ready"] = self.ready
-        return d
-
     def activate_strict_hints(self):
         [c.activate_strict_hints() for c in self]
 
@@ -251,7 +244,7 @@ def _channel_class(self) -> type(OutputSignal):
         return OutputSignal
 
 
-class Signals:
+class Signals(HasStateDisplay):
     """
     A meta-container for input and output signal IO containers.
 
@@ -285,17 +278,11 @@ def connected(self):
     def fully_connected(self):
         return self.input.fully_connected and self.output.fully_connected
 
-    def to_dict(self):
-        return {
-            "input": self.input.to_dict(),
-            "output": self.output.to_dict(),
-        }
-
     def __str__(self):
         return f"{str(self.input)}\n{str(self.output)}"
 
 
-class HasIO(UsesState, HasLabel, HasRun, ABC):
+class HasIO(HasStateDisplay, HasLabel, HasRun, ABC):
     """
     A mixin for classes that provide data and signal IO.
 
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/mixin/has_to_dict.py b/pyiron_workflow/mixin/has_to_dict.py
index a78bc427..60c195ad 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/mixin/has_to_dict.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/mixin/has_to_dict.py
@@ -1,17 +1,76 @@
-from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from abc import ABC
 from json import dumps
 
+from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_interface_mixins import UsesState
 
-class HasToDict(ABC):
-    @abstractmethod
-    def to_dict(self):
-        pass
 
-    def _repr_json_(self):
-        return self.to_dict()
+class HasStateDisplay(UsesState, ABC):
+    """
+    A mixin that leverages :meth:`__getstate__` to automatically build a half-decent
+    JSON-compatible representation dictionary.
+
+    Child classes can over-ride :meth:`display_state` to add or remove elements from
+    the display dictionary, e.g. to (optionally) expose state elements that would
+    otherwise be private or to show properties that are computed and not stored in
+    state, or (mandatory -- JSON demands it) remove recursion from the state.
+
+    Provides a :meth:`_repr_json_` method leveraging this beautified state dictionary
+    to give a standard JSON representation in Jupyter notebooks.
+    """
+
+    def display_state(
+        self, state: dict | None = None, ignore_private: bool = True
+    ) -> dict:
+        """
+        A dictionary of JSON-compatible objects based on the object state (plus
+        whatever modifications to the state the class designer has chosen to make).
+
+        Anything that fails to dump to JSON gets cast as a string and then dumped.
+
+        Args:
+            state (dict|None): The starting state. Default is None which uses
+                `__getstate__`, but available in case child classes want to first
+                sanitize the state values.
+            ignore_private (bool): Whether to ignore or include any state element
+                whose key starts with `'_'`. Default is True, only show public data.
 
-    def info(self):
-        print(dumps(self.to_dict(), indent=2))
+        Returns:
+            dict:
+        """
+        display = dict(self.__getstate__()) if state is None else state
+        to_del = []
+        for k, v in display.items():
+            if ignore_private and k.startswith("_"):
+                to_del.append(k)
+
+            if isinstance(v, HasStateDisplay):
+                display[k] = v.display_state(ignore_private=ignore_private)
+            else:
+                try:
+                    display[k] = dumps(v)
+                except TypeError:
+                    display[k] = dumps(str(v))
+
+        for k in to_del:
+            del display[k]
+
+        return display
+
+    def _repr_json_(self):
+        return self.display_state()
 
-    def __str__(self):
-        return str(self.to_dict())
+    @staticmethod
+    def _make_entry_public(state: dict, private_key: str, public_key: str):
+        if private_key not in state.keys():
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Can't make {private_key} public, it was not found among "
+                f"{list(state.keys())}"
+            )
+        if public_key in state.keys():
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Can't make {private_key} public, {public_key} is already a key in"
+                f" the dict!"
+            )
+        state[public_key] = state[private_key]
+        del state[private_key]
+        return state
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/node.py b/pyiron_workflow/node.py
index 2168d711..8053ee39 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/node.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/node.py
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 
 from pyiron_workflow.draw import Node as GraphvizNode
 from pyiron_workflow.logging import logger
-from pyiron_workflow.mixin.has_to_dict import HasToDict
 from pyiron_workflow.mixin.injection import HasIOWithInjection
 from pyiron_workflow.mixin.run import Runnable, ReadinessError
 from pyiron_workflow.mixin.semantics import Semantic
@@ -38,10 +37,9 @@
 
 
 class Node(
-    HasToDict,
+    HasIOWithInjection,
     Semantic,
     Runnable,
-    HasIOWithInjection,
     ExploitsSingleOutput,
     ABC,
 ):
@@ -937,3 +935,11 @@ def report_import_readiness(self, tabs=0, report_so_far=""):
             report_so_far + f"{newline}{tabspace}{self.label}: "
             f"{'ok' if self.import_ready else 'NOT IMPORTABLE'}"
         )
+
+    def display_state(self, state=None, ignore_private=True):
+        state = dict(self.__getstate__()) if state is None else state
+        if self.parent is not None:
+            state["parent"] = self.parent.full_label
+        if len(state["_user_data"]) > 0:
+            self._make_entry_public(state, "_user_data", "user_data")
+        return super().display_state(state=state, ignore_private=ignore_private)
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/composite.py b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/composite.py
index 9c45d397..cc048790 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/composite.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/composite.py
@@ -137,12 +137,6 @@ def deactivate_strict_hints(self):
         for node in self:
             node.deactivate_strict_hints()
 
-    def to_dict(self):
-        return {
-            "label": self.label,
-            "nodes": {n.label: n.to_dict() for n in self.children.values()},
-        }
-
     def on_run(self):
         # Reset provenance and run status trackers
         self.provenance_by_execution = []
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/function.py b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/function.py
index 96d9ac57..fafc3612 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/function.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/function.py
@@ -337,17 +337,6 @@ def _outputs_to_run_return(self):
             output = output[0]
         return output
 
-    def to_dict(self):
-        return {
-            "label": self.label,
-            "ready": self.ready,
-            "connected": self.connected,
-            "fully_connected": self.fully_connected,
-            "inputs": self.inputs.to_dict(),
-            "outputs": self.outputs.to_dict(),
-            "signals": self.signals.to_dict(),
-        }
-
     @property
     def color(self) -> str:
         """For drawing the graph"""
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/static_io.py b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/static_io.py
index d4e97d85..a2b592b7 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/static_io.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/static_io.py
@@ -119,3 +119,10 @@ def _guarantee_names_are_input_channels(self, presumed_input_keys: tuple[str]):
                 f"{self.full_label} cannot iterate on {non_input_kwargs} because "
                 f"they are not among input channels {self.inputs.labels}"
             )
+
+    def display_state(self, state=None, ignore_private=True):
+        state = dict(self.__getstate__()) if state is None else state
+        self._make_entry_public(state, "_inputs", "inputs")
+        self._make_entry_public(state, "_outputs", "outputs")
+        self._make_entry_public(state, "_signals", "signals")
+        return super().display_state(state=state, ignore_private=ignore_private)
diff --git a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/transform.py b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/transform.py
index ecd929b1..c1342aaf 100644
--- a/pyiron_workflow/nodes/transform.py
+++ b/pyiron_workflow/nodes/transform.py
@@ -23,9 +23,6 @@ class Transformer(StaticNode, ABC):
     into a single output or vice-versa.
     """
 
-    def to_dict(self):
-        pass  # Vestigial abstract method
-
 
 class FromManyInputs(Transformer, ABC):
     _output_name: ClassVar[str]  # Mandatory attribute for non-abstract subclasses