Ask HN: Gitbook Alternatives for API Documentation?
2 comments
Try https://voiden.md/
As per your needs it's: - Markdown (everything in markdown, including testing and specing APIs) - Let's you write your docs in markdown around the API you're designing/testing - Git-based (in-app terminal) - Code samples supported throug markdown
Plus offline, no login, no lock in, no telemetry.
It's early days so a tad rough around the edges still, but feels like the most natural way of handling APIs I ever used till date.
As per your needs it's: - Markdown (everything in markdown, including testing and specing APIs) - Let's you write your docs in markdown around the API you're designing/testing - Git-based (in-app terminal) - Code samples supported throug markdown
Plus offline, no login, no lock in, no telemetry.
It's early days so a tad rough around the edges still, but feels like the most natural way of handling APIs I ever used till date.
I ran into the same headache—writing an OpenAPI spec and then keeping a separate GitBook in sync felt like twice the work. We ended up trying Apidog, and the biggest win was treating the spec itself as the single source of truth: push an updated spec and the interactive docs (with request/response samples, code snippets, etc.) update automatically. It checks most of the boxes you listed:
Imports/exports OpenAPI smoothly
Markdown + syntax-highlighted code samples
Interactive “try it” UI out of the box
Git sync + CLI for CI/CD deploys
Setup was basically “import spec → tweak theme → done,” and maintenance has been minimal since. Might be worth a look if you want to stop maintaining docs separately from your API specs.
Imports/exports OpenAPI smoothly
Markdown + syntax-highlighted code samples
Interactive “try it” UI out of the box
Git sync + CLI for CI/CD deploys
Setup was basically “import spec → tweak theme → done,” and maintenance has been minimal since. Might be worth a look if you want to stop maintaining docs separately from your API specs.
We're maintaining a growing open source project, and quality API documentation is critical for our adoption. I'm looking for solutions that:
- Support OpenAPI/Swagger integration
- Have good Markdown support
- Generate interactive API documentation
- Offer version control (preferably Git-based)
- Can be easily deployed in our CI/CD pipeline
- Support code samples with syntax highlighting
I've looked at Slate, Docusaurus, ReDoc, and Swagger UI, but I'd appreciate any firsthand experiences or recommendations from the community. What are you using for your API docs, and what has your experience been like with setup, maintenance, and community adoption?