Deploy API Documentation with GitHub Pages: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

This article continues from the previous piece on the apidoc tool, which generates static HTML and CSS files for API documentation. While the generated files can be viewed locally, sharing them with front‑end developers via a simple URL is far more convenient.

The solution presented is to use GitHub Pages to automatically deploy the static documentation and provide a public URL. GitHub Pages is a service that serves a repository (or a specific folder) as a static website, accessible via a URL like https://username.github.io/repository/ .

Step 1: Create a Git repository and generate the docs

Run apidoc to generate the documentation files into a folder named docs at the repository root:

apidoc -i
-o ./docs

Push the entire docs folder to the remote GitHub repository.

Step 2: Enable GitHub Pages

Open the repository on GitHub, go to Settings , scroll down to the GitHub Pages section, and select the source as master branch /docs folder . Save the changes.

GitHub will generate a public URL for the site, which can be used by any front‑end developer to view the API documentation directly in a browser.

Step 3: Record the URL

Copy the generated URL from the GitHub Pages settings and optionally add it to the repository’s README or homepage for easy access.

Whenever the API changes, simply regenerate the docs folder with apidoc, push the updates, and the same URL will reflect the new documentation without further configuration.

By following these steps, you can seamlessly share up‑to‑date API documentation with collaborators through a stable, publicly accessible URL.