Company
Date Published
Author
Nathan Lian
Word count
1733
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Conversational API documentation platforms, such as Fern, ReadMe, Mintlify, and GitBook, offer developers the ability to interact with documentation through AI-driven chat interfaces, allowing them to ask questions in natural language and receive instant, precise responses. These platforms utilize Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to enhance the accuracy of responses by grounding them in indexed documentation, which can include API references, guides, code examples, and SDK documentation. Fern stands out for its granular control over knowledge sources and user access, as well as its ability to integrate multiple content sources beyond traditional documentation, such as internal FAQs and help desk tickets, while employing role-based access control to tailor responses based on user permissions. Despite each tool's unique features and limitations, the adoption of AI chat interfaces represents a shift from static manuals to more dynamic, user-friendly documentation that significantly improves the developer experience by providing quick, cited answers and identifying documentation gaps through analytics.