MVP checklist
Use this checklist to help you complete your minimum viable API documentation.
| Section | Questions to answer | Information to include |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | What type of API do you have? | Type of API (RESTful, SOAP, platform-based) |
| What can users do with your API? | Brief use cases and examples (2 or 3 sentences) | |
| Are there any access details or restrictions users need to know about? | Base URL, Rate limits | |
| Authentication | If your API requires an authentication token or key, how do users get one? | Authentication method |
| Do tokens/keys expire? | Expiration intervals (if any) | |
| What should users do if their token/key expires? | Refreshing expired tokens/keys | |
| How do users pass authentication to your API? | Example authorization header | |
| Workflows | What is the optimal/assumed workflow for the 2 or 3 most useful things users can do with your API? | Link to the reference for each endpoint mentioned in the workflow |
| Code samples | What does the code look like for common use cases? | Complete code samples and code snippets that users can copy and paste |
| Reference | What do users need to know to use each endpoint? | For each endpoint: |
| HTTP method (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE) | ||
| Complete request URL | ||
| Parameters (path and query): name, type, description, and whether the parameter is requred | ||
| Example request (including header and body) | ||
| List of each element in the example request, including the type, description, and whether the element is required | ||
| Example response | ||
| List of each element in the example response, including type and description | ||
| List of error and status codes, including the code, message, and meaning |