How to Write a Getting Started Guide for Your API (That Gets Developers to Their First Call)

Most developers decide whether to use your API in the first ten minutes. If they can make a successful call in that time, they keep going. If they get lost in authentication, hunt for a base URL or hit an unexplained error, they close the tab.

A good getting started guide is the single page that prevents that. This post shows how to write one, section by section, and how to publish it next to your API reference so developers never have to switch tabs.

It has one job: get a new developer from zero to a working request, fast. It is not the place to explain every endpoint. That is what the API reference is for. Think of the guide as the shortest path through your API, and the reference as the full map.

The measure of success is time to first successful call. Everything you write should reduce it.

Open with what developers can build and who it is for. No history, no marketing.

The Orders API lets you create, track and cancel orders from your own app. You need an account and an API key to get started.

Tell readers what they need before they begin: an account, an API key, a supported language or tool. If they have to ask for access, say how and how long it takes. Surprises here cause the most drop-off.

Explain where to find an API key or how to set up OAuth, in numbered steps. Be exact about where to click. Also state how the credential is sent, for example Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY, and warn readers not to commit keys to source control.

This is the heart of the page. Give one request that is simple, safe and returns something meaningful. A read request is ideal, because it cannot break anything.

curl https://api.example.com/v1/orders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Use the real, full URL. Do not leave the base URL for the reader to work out.

Paste a real response, and point out the two or three fields that matter.

{
  "data": [
    { "id": "ord_123", "status": "paid", "total": 4999 }
  ]
}

Add a line explaining units, such as "total is in cents", so nobody has to guess.

Once reading works, show a write: creating an order, a customer or a task. Include the full request body and the response. This teaches developers the shape of the API better than any description.

Every new developer will meet a 401 for a bad key and a 422 for a missing field. Show those two responses and say how to fix each. Link to your full error reference for the rest.

End with three or four links: the full API reference, authentication in depth, pagination and rate limits, and where to get help.

• Use real values. ord_123 is more useful than <ORDER_ID>.

• Offer more than one language. Lead with cURL, then add the languages your users write in.

• Keep it short. If a step needs a long explanation, link to it. Do not bury the path.

• Test it yourself. Follow your own guide on a clean machine with a fresh account. Every place you stall is a place a reader will.

• Update it when the API changes. A guide that fails on the first request is worse than none.

A guide works best when it lives beside the endpoints it describes. In DocStar, one API collection holds both endpoint pages and regular pages, so your getting started guide can sit at the top of the sidebar, right above the reference.

Here is a simple way to set it up:

1. Import your API from an OpenAPI 3.x or Swagger 2.0 file, or a Postman collection, to create the endpoint pages. See Import Content.

2. Add a page called "Getting started" and write the steps above in the editor.

3. Store your base URL in an environment so every example uses the same value. See Environments and Variables.

4. Test each request from the editor with Send, and save real responses with Add to Sample Response, so your examples are accurate.

5. Publish. Readers get a clean reference where they can click TRY on any endpoint, copy code snippets in several languages and see live responses.

Edits never go live by accident. Changing a published page returns it to draft, and readers keep seeing the last published version until you publish again.

More developers now ask an AI assistant to write the integration for them. The same clarity that helps people helps assistants: full URLs, real examples and described fields. DocStar also turns your published collection into an MCP server and a CLI, so an assistant can call your API directly. See MCP vs API for how the two fit together.

If you are starting from scratch, our guide How to Document a REST API with DocStar walks through documenting every endpoint, and How to Build a Developer Portal with DocStar shows how to bring the guide, reference and changelog together.

Ready to write yours? Start with DocStar and get new developers to their first call faster.