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Good API documentation lets a developer find an operation, understand its behavior, and send a request that works. Build it from three complementary parts: a structured reference for operation details, guides for real tasks and decisions, and complete request-and-response examples.
Give the reference and guides different jobs
An API reference answers questions about a specific operation: where to send the request, which HTTP method to use, what inputs it accepts, and what it returns. A guide explains how to use one or more operations to accomplish a task, including choices and steps that are hard to convey in a list of fields.
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This division is an editorial approach, not a universal publishing rule. Keeping operation facts structured helps make them consistent; adding guides supplies context for a reader’s workflow. A reference generated from a contract can still need explanations and examples that connect individual operations to a task.
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OpenAPI describes an API in a structured document organized around paths and operations. An operation’s details can include its parameters, request body, and responses. Microsoft describes OpenAPI as supporting contract-first development, with tools able to generate documentation and client libraries from API contracts. Microsoft’s OpenAPI overview explains that workflow.
#1 Best Overall
For each operation, make the information clients need easy to locate:
- Path and method: Show the resource path and HTTP method, such as
GETorPOST. - Parameters: Identify accepted inputs and explain their purpose and behavior.
- Request body: Describe the expected shape when the operation accepts a body.
- Responses: Document the response body and relevant HTTP status codes.
Use HTTP methods consistently with their semantics. REST APIs commonly use methods such as GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE, but an API need not implement every method. Microsoft’s API design guidance describes common method behavior and response patterns.
Make examples complete enough to run
A request example should show the details a reader must supply, not just a fragment of JSON. Include the method, URL, relevant headers, request body if needed, and the expected response. Mark credentials as placeholders rather than presenting them as real secrets. Match parameter names and response shapes to the API itself.
POST /v1/widgets?limit=10&offset=0 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"name": "sample-widget"
}This is an illustrative format, not a claim about a particular API. Replace the example path, authentication mechanism, parameters, body, and expected response with the actual operation’s contract. Show the success status and a representative response body so a reader can check whether the request worked.
Document errors and boundary conditions
Include failure cases that affect how a client should respond, and explain what each documented status means for that operation. Microsoft’s design guidance gives 400 for invalid data and 404 for a missing resource as examples; those codes are not a guarantee that every API assigns identical meanings to every case.
When relevant, provide an example error response and clarify which input or condition caused it. Keep error behavior tied to the API’s actual contract rather than implying that one error model applies everywhere.
Rank #4
Explain asynchronous operations as a workflow
Some work takes too long to finish within the initial request. One documented pattern is to return 202 Accepted and provide a status endpoint in the Location header. The client can query that endpoint for progress; if the operation creates a resource, the completed operation can direct the client to the resource. See Microsoft’s API design guidance for this pattern.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsIf an API uses this approach, write the flow as a sequence: submit the work, inspect the status response, check progress as appropriate, and follow the final resource location when complete. Document the API’s actual polling behavior and responses rather than suggesting every accepted request follows the same lifecycle.
Best Value
Describe pagination and filtering with the API’s real parameters
Pagination and filtering let clients request a smaller or more targeted result set. Microsoft uses limit and offset as examples in its API design guidance. If an API supports pagination, document its actual parameter names, how they affect results, and how a client can request subsequent results. Do not substitute familiar names for the names the API really accepts.
Choose static examples or interactive documentation with access in mind
Static request-and-response examples are easy to review and copy. Interactive interfaces can let developers explore operations, but they should be deployed according to the API’s access model. Microsoft discusses Swagger UI, ReDoc, and Scalar as visualization or interaction options and recommends enabling such interfaces only in development environments as a security precaution against information disclosure. See Microsoft’s OpenAPI overview.
Generated reference material and interactive interfaces are useful parts of a documentation system, not a substitute for explaining a reader’s task. Keep descriptions and examples aligned with the contract, and review published content when the API changes: contract-based generation can support consistency, but generation by itself does not establish that every explanation or example remains accurate.
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