How To Set up Mintlify Docs For Beginners

Key Concepts

• Documentation Platform: Mintify, a tool for creating platform documentation.
• Web Editor: A drag-and-drop interface for editing documentation without coding.
• Code Repository Editing: Editing documentation directly within a GitHub repository using an IDE (Cursor).
• CLI (Command Line Interface): Mintify's CLI for local development and previewing documentation changes.
• OpenAPI: A standard format for describing REST APIs, used for defining API endpoints in Mintify.
• Docs.json: A configuration file for customizing the overall UI and branding of the documentation.
• AI Assistant: An AI-powered feature that allows users to ask questions about the documentation and receive contextualized answers.
• Localhost 3000: A local development environment for previewing documentation changes in real-time.

1. Introduction to Mintify

• Mintify is a documentation platform used by companies like Perplexity AI, Zapier, Replit, Cursor, and Anthropic.
• The video is sponsored by Mintify.
• The video demonstrates Mintify's features by creating API documentation for bumpups.com.
• Mintify offers both a web editor for non-technical users and a code repository editing option for developers.

2. Getting Started with Mintify

• Users can sign up for a free trial using email or Gmail.
• Mintify integrates with GitHub, requiring users to authorize access to their repositories.
• A repository is created to store the documentation files.
• The repository can be cloned to a local computer using an IDE like Cursor.

3. Editing Documentation with the Web Editor

• The web editor allows users to edit documentation without coding.
• Users can grant Mintify access to their GitHub repository to enable the web editor.
• The web editor provides a drag-and-drop interface for adding and modifying content.
• Users can add text, images, cards, callouts (info, tip, note, warning), tabs, steps, frames, response examples, and request examples.
• Changes made in the web editor are automatically committed to the GitHub repository.
• Example: Creating an introduction page for the Bumpups API reference, including a welcome message, a description of the API, an image, a callout for $5 of free credit, and a card linking to the Bumpups account creation page.

4. Editing Documentation with the Code Repository (IDE)

• Mintify allows users to edit documentation directly within their code repository using an IDE like Cursor.
• The Mintify CLI needs to be installed using the command npm install -g @mintify/cli.
• The command mint dev starts a local development server at localhost:3000, allowing users to preview changes in real-time.
• Users can pull the latest changes from the GitHub repository using git pull origin main.
• The docs.json file can be modified to customize the UI, such as the favicon and color palette.
• Example: Changing the favicon by replacing the SVG file and updating the color theme to orange using Cursor's AI chat feature.

5. Creating API Endpoints

• API endpoints are defined in the openAPI.json file.
• The video demonstrates creating a "chat" endpoint for the Bumpups API.
• The AI chat feature in Cursor is used to generate the OpenAPI definition based on the API endpoint details, including the production server, authentication requirements, request body, and expected output.
• The generated OpenAPI definition is added to the openAPI.json file.
• The changes are committed to the GitHub repository using git add ., git commit -m "new endpoint", and git push origin main.

6. Testing API Endpoints

• Mintify provides a built-in UI for testing API endpoints directly within the documentation.
• Users can input the required parameters and authentication keys and send the request.
• The response is displayed in the documentation, allowing developers to verify the API's functionality.
• Example: Testing the "chat" endpoint by providing an API key and a YouTube video URL and receiving a summary of the video.

7. Customizing the UI with Docs.json

• The docs.json file is used to customize the overall UI and branding of the documentation.
• It allows users to change the favicon, color palette, application name, global anchors (external links), and footer content.
• The file is structured to define different sections of the UI, such as essentials, global anchors, and the footer.

8. AI Assistant Feature

• Mintify's AI assistant allows users to ask questions about the documentation and receive contextualized answers.
• The AI assistant contextualizes the entire API docs and guides to provide relevant information.
• Example: Asking the AI assistant about the required data for the "create chat response" endpoint and receiving a list of the required and optional parameters.

9. Additional Features

• Mintify offers other features such as MCP server and analytics.
• Users can add a custom domain to their documentation site.
• Users can add a change log to document updates to their software API ecosystem.

10. Conclusion

• Mintify is a powerful and user-friendly documentation platform that offers a range of features for creating modern and professional API documentation.
• It provides both a web editor for non-technical users and a code repository editing option for developers.
• Mintify's AI assistant, built-in testing UI, and customizable UI make it a valuable tool for any company looking to improve its API documentation.