Documentation plugin

The Documentation plugin automates your API documentation creation. It basically generates a swagger file. It follows the Open API specification version.

Identity Card of the Plugin

Location: Usable via the admin panel. Configured through both admin panel and server code, with different sets of options.
Package name: @strapi/plugin-documentation
Additional resources: Strapi Marketplace page

If installed, the Documentation plugin will inspect content types and routes found on all APIs in your project and any plugin specified in the configuration. The plugin will then programmatically generate documentation to match the OpenAPI specification. The Documentation plugin generates the paths objects and schema objects and converts all Strapi types to OpenAPI data types.

The generated documentation JSON file can be found in your application at the following path: src/extensions/documentation/documentation/<version>/full_documentation.json

Installation

To install the documentation plugin, run following command in your terminal:

yarn
npm

yarn add @strapi/plugin-documentation

npm install @strapi/plugin-documentation

Once the plugin is installed, starting Strapi generates the API documentation.

Configuration

Most configuration options for the Documentation plugin are handled via your Strapi project's code. A few settings are available in the admin panel.

Admin panel settings

The Documentation plugin affects multiple parts of the admin panel. The following table lists all the additional options and settings that are added to a Strapi application once the plugin has been installed:

Section impacted	Options and settings
Documentation	Addition of a new Documentation option in the main navigation which shows a panel with buttons to open and regenerate the documentation.
Settings	Addition of a "Documentation plugin" setting section, which controls whether the documentation endpoint is private or not (see restricting access). 👉 Path reminder: Settings > Documentation plugin Activation of role based access control for accessing, updating, deleting, and regenerating the documentation. Administrators can authorize different access levels to different types of users in the Plugins tab and the Settings tab (see Users & Permissions documentation). 👉 Path reminder: Settings > Administration Panel > Roles

Section impacted

Options and settings

Documentation

Settings

Addition of a "Documentation plugin" setting section, which controls whether the documentation endpoint is private or not (see restricting access).
👉 Path reminder: Settings > Documentation plugin

Activation of role based access control for accessing, updating, deleting, and regenerating the documentation. Administrators can authorize different access levels to different types of users in the Plugins tab and the Settings tab (see Users & Permissions documentation).
👉 Path reminder: Settings > Administration Panel > Roles

Restricting access to your API documentation

By default, your API documentation will be accessible by anyone.

To restrict API documentation access, enable the Restricted Access option from the admin panel:

Navigate to Settings in the main navigation of the admin panel.
Choose Documentation.
Toggle Restricted Access to ON.
Define a password in the password input.
Save the settings.

Code-based configuration

To configure the Documentation plugin, create a settings.json file in the src/extensions/documentation/config folder. In this file, you can specify all your environment variables, licenses, external documentation links, and all the entries listed in the specification.

The following is an example configuration:

src/extensions/documentation/config/settings.json
{
  "openapi": "3.0.0",
  "info": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "title": "DOCUMENTATION",
    "description": "",
    "termsOfService": "YOUR_TERMS_OF_SERVICE_URL",
    "contact": {
      "name": "TEAM",
      "email": "contact-email@something.io",
      "url": "mywebsite.io"
    },
    "license": {
      "name": "Apache 2.0",
      "url": "https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html"
    }
  },
  "x-strapi-config": {
    "plugins": ["upload", "users-permissions"],
    "path": "/documentation"
  },
  "servers": [
    {
      "url": "http://localhost:1337/api",
      "description": "Development server"
    }
  ],
  "externalDocs": {
    "description": "Find out more",
    "url": "https://docs.strapi.io/developer-docs/latest/getting-started/introduction.html"
  },
  "security": [
    {
      "bearerAuth": []
    }
  ]
}

Tip

If you need to add a custom key, prefix it by x- (e.g., x-strapi-something).

Creating a new version of the documentation

To create a new version, change the info.version key in the settings.json file:

src/extensions/documentation/config/settings.json
{
  "info": {
    "version": "2.0.0"
  }
}

This will automatically create a new version.

Defining which plugins need documentation generated

If you want plugins to be included in documentation generation, they should be included in the plugins array in the x-strapi-config object. By default, the array is initialized with ["upload", "users-permissions"]:

src/extensions/documentation/config/settings.json
{
  "x-strapi-config": {
    "plugins": ["upload", "users-permissions"]
  }
}

To add more plugins, such as your custom plugins, add their name to the array.

If you do not want plugins to be included in documentation generation, provide an empty array (i.e., plugins: []).

Overriding the generated documentation

The Documentation plugins comes with 3 methods to override the generated documentation: excludeFromGeneration, registerOverride, and mutateDocumentation.

excludeFromGeneration()

To exclude certain APIs or plugins from being generated, use the excludeFromGeneration found on the documentation plugin’s override service in your application or plugin's register lifecycle.

Note

excludeFromGeneration gives more fine-grained control over what is generated.

For example, pluginA might create several new APIs while pluginB may only want to generate documentation for some of those APIs. In that case, pluginB could still benefit from the generated documentation it does need by excluding only what it does not need.

Parameter	Type	Description
`api`	String or Array of Strings	The name of the API/plugin, or list of names, to exclude

Application or plugin register lifecycle

module.exports = {
  register({ strapi }) {
    strapi
      .plugin("documentation")
      .service("override")
      .excludeFromGeneration("restaurant");
    // or several
    strapi
      .plugin("documentation")
      .service("override")
      .excludeFromGeneration(["address", "upload"]);
  }
}

registerOverride()

If the Documentation plugin fails to generate what you expect, it is possible to replace what has been generated.

The Documentation plugin exposes an API that allows you to replace what was generated for the following OpenAPI root level keys: paths, tags, components .

To provide an override, use the registerOverride function found on the Documentation plugin’s override service in your application or plugin's register lifecycle.

Parameter	Type	Description
`override`	Object	OpenAPI object including any of the following keys paths, tags, components. Accepts JavaScript, JSON, or yaml
`options`	Object	Accepts `pluginOrigin` and `excludeFromGeneration`
`options.pluginOrigin`	String	The plugin that is registering the override
`options.excludeFromGeneration`	String or Array of String	The name of the API/plugin, or list of names, to exclude

Caution

Plugin developers providing an override should always specify the pluginOrigin options key. Otherwise the override will run regardless of the user’s configuration.

The Documentation plugin will use the registered overrides to replace the value of common keys on the generated documentation with what the override provides. If no common keys are found, the plugin will add new keys to the generated documentation.

If the override completely replaces what the documentation generates, you can specify that generation is no longer necessary by providing the names of the APIs or plugins to exclude in the options key array excludeFromGeneration.

If the override should only be applied to a specific version, the override must include a value for info.version. Otherwise, the override will run on all documentation versions.

Application or plugin register lifecycle

module.exports = {
  register({ strapi }) {
    if (strapi.plugin('documentation')) {
      const override = {
        // Only run this override for version 1.0.0
        info: { version: '1.0.0' },
        paths: {
          '/answer-to-everything': {
            get: {
              responses: { 200: { description: "*" }}
            }
          }
        }
      }

      strapi
        .plugin('documentation')
        .service('override')
        .registerOverride(override, {
          // Specify the origin in case the user does not want this plugin documented
          pluginOrigin: 'upload',
          // The override provides everything don't generate anything
          excludeFromGeneration: ['upload'],
        });
    }
  },
}

The overrides system is provided to try and simplify amending the generated documentation. It is the only way a plugin can add or modify the generated documentation.

mutateDocumentation()

The Documentation plugin’s configuration also accepts a mutateDocumentation function on info['x-strapi-config']. This function receives a draft state of the generated documentation that be can be mutated. It should only be applied from an application and has the final say in the OpenAPI schema.

Parameter	Type	Description
`generatedDocumentationDraft`	Object	The generated documentation with applied overrides as a mutable object

config/plugins.js

module.exports = {
  documentation: {
    config: {
      "x-strapi-config": {
        mutateDocumentation: (generatedDocumentationDraft) => {
          generatedDocumentationDraft.paths[
            "/answer-to-everything" // must be an existing path
          ].get.responses["200"].description = "*";
        },
      },
    },
  },
};

Usage

The Documentation plugin visualizes your API using Swagger UI. To access the UI, select in the main navigation of the admin panel. Then click Open documentation to open the Swagger UI. Using the Swagger UI you can view all of the endpoints available on your API and trigger API calls.

Tip

Once the plugin is installed, the plugin user interface can be accessed at the following URL: <server-url>:<server-port>/documentation/<documentation-version> (e.g., localhost:1337/documentation/v1.0.0).

Regenerating documentation

There are 2 ways to update the documentation after making changes to your API:

restart your application to regenerate the version of the documentation specified in the Documentation plugin's configuration,
or go to the Documentation plugin page and click the regenerate button for the documentation version you want to regenerate.

Authenticating requests

Strapi is secured by default, which means that most of your endpoints require the user to be authorized. If the CRUD action has not been set to Public in the Users & Permissions plugin then you must provide your JSON web token (JWT). To do this, while viewing the API Documentation, click the Authorize button and paste your JWT in the bearerAuth value field.

Installation​

Configuration​

Admin panel settings​

Restricting access to your API documentation​

Code-based configuration​

Creating a new version of the documentation​

Defining which plugins need documentation generated​

Overriding the generated documentation​

excludeFromGeneration()​

registerOverride()​

mutateDocumentation()​

Usage​

Regenerating documentation​

Authenticating requests​