Every developer has been there. You find a promising API, sign up for access, and then hit a wall of outdated docs, missing examples, and unexplained error codes. You close the tab and look for an alternative.
That moment costs companies users. And it happens more often than most teams realize.
The hidden cost of bad docs
API documentation is often treated as an afterthought. Ship the feature first, document it later. But “later” rarely comes, and when it does, the engineer who built the feature has moved on to something else.
The result is documentation that technically exists but doesn’t actually help anyone. Endpoints are listed without context. Parameters are described with circular definitions. Error responses are undocumented.
What good API docs look like
The best API documentation I’ve worked on shares a few traits:
- Tested code samples that actually run. Not pseudocode, not outdated snippets from three versions ago.
- Clear error documentation that tells developers what went wrong and how to fix it.
- Progressive disclosure that lets beginners get started quickly without hiding advanced usage.
- Real-world examples that show how endpoints work together, not just in isolation.
Docs as a product
The shift I’ve seen in the best teams is treating documentation as a product. That means user research, iteration, and metrics. It means having someone who talks to developers and understands what they’re trying to accomplish.
It also means using tools that support a good workflow. Docs-as-code with Git and Markdown, linters like Vale for consistency, and CI/CD pipelines that keep docs in sync with releases.
Documentation isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the interface between your product and the people who use it.