API documentation is the number one reference for anyone implementing your API, and it can profoundly influence the developer experience. Because it describes what services an application programming interface offers and how to use those services, your documentation will inevitably create an impression about your product—for better or for worse.
In this two-part series I share what I’ve learned about API documentation. This part discusses the basics to help you create good API docs, while in part two, Ten Extras for Great API Documentation, I’ll show you additional ways to improve and fine-tune your documentation.
Know your audience
Knowing who you address with your writing and how you can best support them will help you make decisions about the design, structure, and language of your docs. You will have to know who visits your API documentation and what they want to use it for.
Your API documentation will probably be visited and used by the following audiences.
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