---
id: kibDevDocsApiWelcome
slug: /kibana-dev-docs/api-welcome
title: Welcome
summary: How to use our automatically generated API documentation
date: 2021-02-25
tags: ['kibana','dev', 'contributor', 'api docs']
---

Welcome to our automatically generated typescript API 
documentation for every plugin that exposes a <DocLink id="kibPlatformIntro" section="public-plugin-api" text="public API"/>!

<DocCallOut color="warning" title="Experimental">
This documentation is being automatically generated using an
 [_experimental_ system](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/rfcs/text/0014_api_documentation.md). That means
 it may be removed or modified at any time. If you have any questions, feedback or concerns, please create an issue using
  the label `APIDocs`, or reach out to the Kibana Tech Leads
 who are temporarily owning and maintaining this system.
 </DocCallOut>

 ## What is included

 Every plugin that 
 <DocLink id="kibPlatformIntro" section="public-plugin-api" text="exposes functionality for other plugins to use"/> will have
 API documentation automatically generated (note this system 
 does *not* handle REST APIs).

 <DocCallOut title="@internal tags">API items that have an `@internal` in the comment are not 
 included in the documentation system.</DocCallOut> 

 ## How it works

 If you change or delete a public plugin API, or add a new one, you will have to run the command `node scripts/build_api_docs` in order to update the
 docs in your PR, or CI will fail. When this happens, consider:
 
 1. If this affects an existing API item, have you emailed the `kibana-contributors` list with a heads up? It's important to give advance 
 notice, since there may be corner cases you aren't aware of, even if your PR passes CI.
 2. If the change you are making aren't relevant to contributors, consider a) making the API private, or b) adding the `@internal` flag to it.

## Q & A 

### Why do I not see my plugin's public API?

There is one extra step required to have your API docs show up in the _navigation_ of the docs system. Follow
the instructions <DocLink id="docsSetup" section="configure-the-nav-for-your-content" text="here" /> to learn how to 
configure the navigation menu.  The nav file you need to
 edit is: [https://github.com/elastic/elastic-docs/blob/master/config/nav-kibana-dev.ts](https://github.com/elastic/elastic-docs/blob/master/config/nav-kibana-dev.ts)

Your API docs will exist in the top level [`api_docs` folder](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/tree/master/api_docs) and will use a doc id of the pattern `kib${PluginName}PluginApi`.

### Why is a referenced API item not showing up as clickable?

There are a few reasons his could happen. First, check if you are exporting the API item. For example,
if you have the following in your `my_plugin/public/index.ts` file:

```
type Bar = { id: string };
export type Foo = Bar | string;
```

`Bar`, in the signature of `Foo`, will not be clickable because it would result in a broken link. `Bar` is not publically exported!

If that isn't the case, please file an issue, it could be a bug with the system.

### Why are the docs so slow?

We are [aware of some performance issues](https://github.com/elastic/elastic-docs/issues/274) with deeply nested, or large APIs.

In the short term, the best thing you can do is avoid deeply nested API items. Use interfaces rather than inlined objects. Also consider
adding `serviceFolders` in your kibana.json. This will automatically split your docs up based on which APIs are defined within the service folders.
They will get built into a doc with an id of
`kib${PluginName}${ServiceName}PluginApi`. The data plugin does this, so you
 can [check that out as an example](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/blob/master/src/plugins/data/kibana.json#L13).

 If that isn't the case and you are still experiencing performance issues, please file an issue!

### Where do I ask questions or give feedback?

If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to the Kibana Tech Leads or create an issue [here](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues)
and use the label `APIDocs`.