Are there any CMS engines designed for creating reference documentation for a REST API?

Question

I'm in the process of creating a REST API for interfacing with a new SaaS site we're building and we need to document the API for use by a third-party iOS developer (plus other developers once the service goes public). Are there any existing database driven content management systems that facilitate building API documentation for this type of system?

I'm hoping for something more tailored than a generic wiki or wordpress build would provide.

edit: I should probably mention that our VPS is setup as a LAMP stack, so something PHP driven would be preferable.

Self-documenting is not a requirement, I'm actually wanting something more manual. I'd like to use the CMS as a designing platform for APIs that still need to be written as well.

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 02 '15 at 11:57

9

I/O Docs is an interactive documentation system running on nodejs. You generate a JSON schema of your API and it provides a HTML/JS site that describes your API and lets developers to play with it live from their browser.

Swagger is a specification for generating API docs and a framework for running your own documentation site.

While not a replacement for documentation Apigee ToGo would be a great addition to a more generic CMS for docs.

Sphinx isn't REST oriented but will generate documentation in general.

If you are building your API in Java Enunciate is something to look at as well. It will build documentation from JavaDocs.

edited Jun 02 '15 at 11:57

Community

1
1

answered Jan 15 '12 at 22:10

abraham

46,583
10
100
152

Generation is not a requirement, and I'd actually rather be entering it manually since this will also be used to plan the API. Thanks for the suggestions – Twipped Jan 15 '12 at 22:26
I don't know of any CMSes that are designed for REST documentation but Drupal is very extensible and Google Sites is very easy to use. – abraham Jan 15 '12 at 22:37

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

0

Swagger has a "manual" way to enter your specs and generate documentation. See this answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12085196/411229

Link to example project: https://github.com/wordnik/swagger-core/tree/master/samples/no-server

edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

Community

1
1

answered Jan 09 '13 at 19:43

Ryan Walls

6,962
1
39
42

Are there any CMS engines designed for creating reference documentation for a REST API?

2 Answers2

Linked