redoc

What is redoc?

Redoc is an open-source tool for generating interactive API documentation from OpenAPI (formerly Swagger) definitions. It provides a user-friendly interface for exploring and understanding API endpoints, parameters, and responses.

What are redoc's main functionalities?

Render API Documentation

This feature allows you to render API documentation from an OpenAPI specification file. The `init` method takes the path to the OpenAPI file, optional configuration options, and the HTML element where the documentation should be rendered.

const Redoc = require('redoc');
Redoc.init('path/to/your/openapi.yaml', {
  scrollYOffset: 50
}, document.getElementById('redoc-container'));

Customization Options

Redoc allows for extensive customization of the rendered documentation. You can change the theme, colors, fonts, and other styles to match your branding.

const Redoc = require('redoc');
Redoc.init('path/to/your/openapi.yaml', {
  theme: {
    colors: {
      primary: {
        main: '#dd5522'
      }
    }
  }
}, document.getElementById('redoc-container'));

Standalone HTML Generation

Redoc provides a CLI tool to generate a standalone HTML file from an OpenAPI specification. This can be useful for hosting static API documentation without needing a server.

const { exec } = require('child_process');
exec('npx redoc-cli bundle path/to/your/openapi.yaml', (error, stdout, stderr) => {
  if (error) {
    console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
    return;
  }
  if (stderr) {
    console.error(`Stderr: ${stderr}`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`Stdout: ${stdout}`);
});

Other packages similar to redoc

swagger-ui

Swagger UI is another popular tool for generating interactive API documentation from OpenAPI specifications. It offers a more traditional interface compared to Redoc and is highly customizable. Swagger UI is often used in conjunction with other Swagger tools for a complete API development workflow.

api-docs

API Docs is a lightweight tool for generating API documentation from OpenAPI specifications. It focuses on simplicity and ease of use, making it a good choice for smaller projects or teams that need quick and straightforward documentation.

spectacle

Spectacle is a tool for generating API documentation from OpenAPI specifications with a focus on readability and user experience. It offers a clean and modern interface, similar to Redoc, but with different customization options and features.

README

Generate interactive API documentation from OpenAPI definitions

This is the README for the 2.x version of Redoc (React-based). The README for the 1.x version is on the v1.x branch

About Redoc

Redoc is an open-source tool for generating documentation from OpenAPI (fka Swagger) definitions.

By default Redoc offers a three-panel, responsive layout:

• The left panel contains a search bar and navigation menu.
• The central panel contains the documentation.
• The right panel contains request and response examples.

Live demo

If you want to see how Redoc will render your OpenAPI definition, you can try it out online at https://redocly.github.io/redoc/.

A version of the Swagger Petstore API is displayed by default. To test it with your own OpenAPI definition, enter the URL for your definition and select TRY IT.

Redoc vs. Reference vs. Portals

Redoc is Redocly's community-edition product. Looking for something more? Checkout the following feature comparison of Redocly's premium products versus Redoc:

Features	Redoc	Reference	Portals
Specs
Swagger 2.0	√	√	√
OpenAPI 3.0	√	√	√
OpenAPI 3.1	√ (basic)	√	√
Theming
Fonts/colors	√	√	√
Extra theme options		√	√
Performance
Pagination		√	√
Search (enhanced)		√	√
Search (server-side)			√
Multiple APIs
Multiple versions		√	√
Multiple APIs			√
API catalog			√
Additional features
Try-it console		√	√
Automated code samples		√	√
Deep links		√	√
More SEO control			√
Contextual docs			√
Landing pages			√
React hooks for more control			√
Personalization			√
Analytics integrations			√
Feedback			Coming Soon

Refer to the Redocly's documentation for more information on these products:

• Portals
• Reference
• Redoc

Features

• Responsive three-panel design with menu/scrolling synchronization

• Multiple deployment options

• Server-side rendering (SSR) ready

• Ability to integrate your API introduction into the side menu

• Simple integration with create-react-app

  Example repo

• Command-line interface to bundle your docs into a zero-dependency HTML file

• Neat interactive documentation for nested objects
  

Customization options

• High-level grouping in side-menu with the x-tagGroups specification extension
• Branding/customizations using the theme option

Support

• OpenAPI v3.0 support
• Basic OpenAPI v3.1 support
• Broad OpenAPI v2.0 feature support (yes, it supports even discriminator)
  
• Code samples support (via vendor extension)
  

Releases

Important: all the 2.x releases are deployed to npm and can be used with Redocly-cdn:

• particular release, for example, v2.0.0-rc.70: https://cdn.redoc.ly/redoc/v2.0.0-rc.70/bundles/redoc.standalone.js
• latest release: https://cdn.redoc.ly/redoc/latest/bundles/redoc.standalone.js

Additionally, all the 1.x releases are hosted on our GitHub Pages-based CDN (deprecated):

• particular release, for example v1.2.0: https://rebilly.github.io/ReDoc/releases/v1.2.0/redoc.min.js
• v1.x.x release: https://rebilly.github.io/ReDoc/releases/v1.x.x/redoc.min.js
• latest release: https://rebilly.github.io/ReDoc/releases/latest/redoc.min.js - it will point to latest 1.x.x release since 2.x releases are not hosted on this CDN but on unpkg.

Version Guidance

Redoc Release	OpenAPI Specification
2.0.0-alpha.54	3.1, 3.0.x, 2.0
2.0.0-alpha.x	3.0, 2.0
1.19.x	2.0
1.18.x	2.0
1.17.x	2.0

Showcase

• Rebilly
• Docker Engine
• Zuora
• Discourse
• Commbox
• APIs.guru
• BoxKnight

Lint OpenAPI definitions

Redocly's CLI is an open source command-line tool that you can use to lint your OpenAPI definition. Linting helps you to catch errors and inconsistencies in your OpenAPI definition before publishing.

Refer to Redocly configuration in the OpenAPI documentation for more information.

Deployment

TL;DR final code example

To render your OpenAPI definition using Redoc, use the following HTML code sample and replace the spec-url attribute with the url or local file address to your definition.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Redoc</title>
    <!-- needed for adaptive design -->
    <meta charset="utf-8"/>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat:300,400,700|Roboto:300,400,700" rel="stylesheet">

    <!--
    Redoc doesn't change outer page styles
    -->
    <style>
      body {
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <redoc spec-url='http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json'></redoc>
    <script src="https://cdn.redoc.ly/redoc/latest/bundles/redoc.standalone.js"> </script>
  </body>
</html>

For step-by-step instructions for how to get started using Redoc to render your OpenAPI definition, refer to the Redoc quickstart guide and How to use the HTML element.

Redoc CLI

For more information on Redoc's commmand-line interface, refer to Using the Redoc CLI.

Configuration

Security Definition location

You can inject the Security Definitions widget into any place in your definition description. For more information, refer to Security definitions injection.

OpenAPI specification extensions

Redoc uses the following specification extensions:

• x-logo - is used to specify API logo
• x-traitTag - useful for handling out common things like Pagination, Rate-Limits, etc
• x-codeSamples - specify operation code samples
• x-examples - specify JSON example for requests
• x-nullable - mark schema param as a nullable
• x-displayName - specify human-friendly names for the menu categories
• x-tagGroups - group tags by categories in the side menu
• x-servers - ability to specify different servers for API (backported from OpenAPI 3.0)
• x-ignoredHeaderParameters - ability to specify header parameter names to ignore
• x-additionalPropertiesName - ability to supply a descriptive name for the additional property keys
• x-summary - For Response object, use as the response button text, with description rendered under the button
• x-extendedDiscriminator - In Schemas, uses this to solve name-clash issues with the standard discriminator
• x-explicitMappingOnly - In Schemas, display a more descriptive property name in objects with additionalProperties when viewing the property list with an object

<redoc> options object

You can use all of the following options with the standalone version of the tag by kebab-casing them. For example, scrollYOffset becomes scroll-y-offset, and expandResponses becomes expand-responses.

• disableSearch - disable search indexing and search box.
• minCharacterLengthToInitSearch - set minimal characters length to init search, default 3, minimal 1.
• expandDefaultServerVariables - enable expanding default server variables, default false.
• expandResponses - specify which responses to expand by default by response codes. Values should be passed as comma-separated list without spaces e.g. expandResponses="200,201". Special value "all" expands all responses by default. Be careful: this option can slow-down documentation rendering time.
• generatedPayloadSamplesMaxDepth - set the maximum render depth for JSON payload samples (responses and request body). The default value is 10.
• maxDisplayedEnumValues - display only specified number of enum values. hide rest values under spoiler.
• hideDownloadButton - do not show "Download" spec button. THIS DOESN'T MAKE YOUR SPEC PRIVATE, it just hides the button.
• downloadFileName - set a custom file name for the downloaded API definition file.
• downloadDefinitionUrl - If the 'Download' button is visible in the API reference documentation (hideDownloadButton=false), the URL configured here will open when that button is selected. Provide it as an absolute URL with the full URI scheme.
• hideHostname - if set, the protocol and hostname is not shown in the operation definition.
• hideLoading - do not show loading animation. Useful for small docs.
• hideFab - do not show FAB in mobile view. Useful for implementing a custom floating action button.
• hideSchemaPattern - if set, the pattern is not shown in the schema.
• hideSingleRequestSampleTab - do not show the request sample tab for requests with only one sample.
• showObjectSchemaExamples - show object schema example in the properties, default false.
• expandSingleSchemaField - automatically expand single field in a schema
• schemaExpansionLevel - specifies whether to automatically expand schemas. Special value "all" expands all levels. The default value is 0.
• jsonSampleExpandLevel - set the default expand level for JSON payload samples (responses and request body). Special value "all" expands all levels. The default value is 2.
• hideSchemaTitles - do not display schema title next to to the type
• simpleOneOfTypeLabel - show only unique oneOf types in the label without titles
• sortEnumValuesAlphabetically - set to true, sorts all enum values in all schemas alphabetically
• sortOperationsAlphabetically - set to true, sorts operations in the navigation sidebar and in the middle panel alphabetically
• sortTagsAlphabetically - set to true, sorts tags in the navigation sidebar and in the middle panel alphabetically
• lazyRendering - Not implemented yet if set, enables lazy rendering mode in ReDoc. This mode is useful for APIs with big number of operations (e.g. > 50). In this mode ReDoc shows initial screen ASAP and then renders the rest operations asynchronously while showing progress bar on the top. Check out the demo for the example.
• menuToggle - if true clicking second time on expanded menu item will collapse it, default true.
• nativeScrollbars - use native scrollbar for sidemenu instead of perfect-scroll (scrolling performance optimization for big specs).
• onlyRequiredInSamples - shows only required fields in request samples.
• pathInMiddlePanel - show path link and HTTP verb in the middle panel instead of the right one.
• requiredPropsFirst - show required properties first ordered in the same order as in required array.
• scrollYOffset - If set, specifies a vertical scroll-offset. This is often useful when there are fixed positioned elements at the top of the page, such as navbars, headers etc; scrollYOffset can be specified in various ways:
  • number: A fixed number of pixels to be used as offset.
  • selector: selector of the element to be used for specifying the offset. The distance from the top of the page to the element's bottom will be used as offset.
  • function: A getter function. Must return a number representing the offset (in pixels).
• showExtensions - show vendor extensions ("x-" fields). Extensions used by ReDoc are ignored. Can be boolean or an array of string with names of extensions to display.
• sortPropsAlphabetically - sort properties alphabetically.
• payloadSampleIdx - if set, payload sample will be inserted at this index or last. Indexes start from 0.
• theme - ReDoc theme. For details check theme docs.
• untrustedSpec - if set, the spec is considered untrusted and all HTML/markdown is sanitized to prevent XSS. Disabled by default for performance reasons. Enable this option if you work with untrusted user data!
• nonce - if set, the provided value will be injected in every injected HTML element in the nonce attribute. Useful when using CSP, see https://webpack.js.org/guides/csp/.
• sideNavStyle - can be specified in various ways:
  • summary-only: displays a summary in the sidebar navigation item. (default)
  • path-only: displays a path in the sidebar navigation item.
  • id-only: displays the operation id with a fallback to the path in the sidebar navigation item.
• showWebhookVerb - when set to true, shows the HTTP request method for webhooks in operations and in the sidebar.

<redoc> theme object

• spacing
  • unit: 5 # main spacing unit used in autocomputed theme values later
  • sectionHorizontal: 40 # Horizontal section padding. COMPUTED: spacing.unit * 8
  • sectionVertical: 40 # Horizontal section padding. COMPUTED: spacing.unit * 8
• breakpoints # breakpoints for switching three/two and mobile view layouts
  • small: '50rem'
  • medium: '85rem'
  • large: '105rem'
• colors
  • tonalOffset: 0.3 # default tonal offset used in computations
• typography
  • fontSize: '14px'
  • lineHeight: '1.5em'
  • fontWeightRegular: '400'
  • fontWeightBold: '600'
  • fontWeightLight: '300'
  • fontFamily: 'Roboto, sans-serif'
  • smoothing: 'antialiased'
  • optimizeSpeed: true
  • headings
    • fontFamily: 'Montserrat, sans-serif'
    • fontWeight: '400'
    • lineHeight: '1.6em'
  • code # inline code styling
    • fontSize: '13px'
    • fontFamily: 'Courier, monospace'
    • lineHeight: # COMPUTED: typography.lineHeight
    • fontWeight: # COMPUTED: typography.fontWeightRegular
    • color: '#e53935'
    • backgroundColor: 'rgba(38, 50, 56, 0.05)'
    • wrap: false # whether to break word for inline blocks (otherwise they can overflow)
  • links
    • color: # COMPUTED: colors.primary.main
    • visited: # COMPUTED: typography.links.color
    • hover: # COMPUTED: lighten(0.2 typography.links.color)
    • textDecoration: 'auto'
    • hoverTextDecoration: 'auto'
• sidebar
  • width: '260px'
  • backgroundColor: '#fafafa'
  • textColor: '#333333'
  • activeTextColor: # COMPUTED: theme.sidebar.textColor (if set by user) or theme.colors.primary.main
  • groupItems # Group headings
    • activeBackgroundColor: # COMPUTED: theme.sidebar.backgroundColor
    • activeTextColor: # COMPUTED: theme.sidebar.activeTextColor
    • textTransform: 'uppercase'
  • level1Items # Level 1 items like tags or section 1st level items
    • activeBackgroundColor: # COMPUTED: theme.sidebar.backgroundColor
    • activeTextColor: # COMPUTED: theme.sidebar.activeTextColor
    • textTransform: 'none'
  • arrow # sidebar arrow
    • size: '1.5em'
    • color: # COMPUTED: theme.sidebar.textColor
• logo
  • maxHeight: # COMPUTED: sidebar.width
  • maxWidth: # COMPUTED: sidebar.width
  • gutter: '2px' # logo image padding
• rightPanel
  • backgroundColor: '#263238'
  • width: '40%'
  • textColor: '#ffffff'
  • servers
    • overlay
      • backgroundColor: '#fafafa'
      • textColor: '#263238'
    • url
      • backgroundColor: '#fff'
• fab
  • backgroundColor: '#263238'
  • color: '#ffffff'

---

Development

see CONTRIBUTING.md

Changelog

2.0.0-rc.76 (2022-08-18)

Bug Fixes

• "API Docs By Redocly" overlapping last element in sidebar (#2132) (c60c6f5)
• encoding issue in CDN responses (#2130) (7816902)
• Optional authentication not rendered properly (#2117) (#2134) (efd5e09)

Features

• add clear cache for publish action (#2129) (d8093e3)