What software developers want from API documentation

You might be surprised that they want pretty much what everyone else wants

You may have been told that software developers don’t require formal documentation — or only tiny bits and pieces of information (sentence fragments will do) — and not to bother building an exceptional developer experience.

Software developers rely on technical documentation that helps them build software applications and use Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These docs are intended for a technical audience and typically include programming, installation, setup instructions, technical specifications, API information, code examples, troubleshooting, and debugging procedures. They also may include other types of content — release notes, best practices, and guidelines.

Some leaders I've spoken with say that creating detailed technical documentation for developers is not worth investing time and resources. They mistakenly believe that developers do not require docs built with the same level of care as consumer-facing technical information because they assume that developers are already technically proficient and do not require the same level of explanation and guidance.

Despite beliefs to the contrary, research shows that quality criteria such as accuracy, completeness, and clarity are relevant to the software developer’s experience using API documentation. Putting a new API to work can be challenging. Developers say documentation insufficiencies constitute a significant factor.