mintlify__docs/organize/settings-api.mdx

---
title: "API settings"
description: "Configure OpenAPI and AsyncAPI specs, the interactive API playground, SDK code examples, and authentication settings in your docs.json file."
keywords: ["api", "openapi", "asyncapi", "playground", "docs.json", "api reference"]
---

Use the `api` field in `docs.json` to configure what API specifications generate API pages, the interactive API playground for testing endpoints, and how to generate and display code examples.

## Settings

### `api`

**Type:** `object`

Define all API-related settings under the `api` key.

<ResponseField name="api.openapi" type="string or array or object">
  OpenAPI specification files for generating API reference pages. Accepts a single path or URL, an array of paths and URLs, or an object specifying a source and directory.

  <Expandable title="api.openapi object">
    <ResponseField name="source" type="string">
      URL or path to your OpenAPI specification file. Minimum length: 1.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="directory" type="string">
      Directory to search for OpenAPI files. Do not include a leading slash.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>

  <CodeGroup>

  ```json Single file
  "openapi": "openapi.json"
  ```

  ```json Multiple files
  "openapi": [
    "openapi/v1.json",
    "openapi/v2.json",
    "https://api.example.com/openapi.yaml"
  ]
  ```

  ```json Directory
  "openapi": {
    "source": "openapi.json",
    "directory": "api-reference"
  }
  ```

  </CodeGroup>
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="api.asyncapi" type="string or array or object">
  AsyncAPI specification files for generating event-driven API reference pages. Accepts a single path or URL, an array of paths and URLs, or an object specifying a source and directory.

  <Expandable title="api.asyncapi object">
    <ResponseField name="source" type="string">
      URL or path to your AsyncAPI specification file. Minimum length: 1.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="directory" type="string">
      Directory to search for AsyncAPI files. Do not include a leading slash.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>

  <CodeGroup>

  ```json Single file
  "asyncapi": "asyncapi.json"
  ```

  ```json Multiple files
  "asyncapi": [
    "asyncapi/events.yaml",
    "asyncapi/webhooks.yaml"
  ]
  ```

  ```json Directory
  "asyncapi": {
    "source": "asyncapi.json",
    "directory": "websockets"
  }
  ```

  </CodeGroup>
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="api.playground" type="object">
  Interactive API playground settings.

  <Expandable title="api.playground">
    <ResponseField name="display" type='"interactive" | "simple" | "none" | "auth"'>
      The display mode for the playground. Defaults to `interactive`.

      - `interactive` — Full interactive playground with request builder
      - `simple` — Simplified view without the request builder
      - `none` — Hide the playground entirely
      - `auth` — Show the playground only to authenticated users
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="proxy" type="boolean">
      Whether to route API requests through a proxy server. Defaults to `true`.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="credentials" type="boolean">
      Whether to include cookies and authentication headers for cross-origin requests when `proxy` is `false`. Defaults to `false`. Has no effect when `proxy` is `true`.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="api.params" type="object">
  Display settings for API parameters.

  <Expandable title="api.params">
    <ResponseField name="expanded" type='"all" | "closed"'>
      Whether to expand all parameters by default. Defaults to `closed`.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="post" type="array of string">
      OpenAPI spec field keys to surface as post pills next to every parameter name in API reference pages and the playground. For each key you list, Mintlify reads the value from the schema and renders it as a pill:

      - String values render as the verbatim string.
      - `true` renders the key name as the pill label. `false`, `null`, and empty strings render nothing.
      - Number values render the stringified number.
      - Arrays of strings or numbers render one pill per element.
      - Objects and other values are skipped.

      Use this to expose custom OpenAPI fields—such as `x-internal`, `nullable`, or vendor extensions—as visual annotations on each parameter without per-property configuration.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="api.url" type='"full"'>
  Display mode for the base URL in the endpoint header. Set to `full` to always show the complete base URL on every endpoint page. By default, the base URL is only shown when there are multiple base URLs to select from.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="api.examples" type="object">
  Settings for autogenerated API code examples.

  <Expandable title="api.examples">
    <ResponseField name="languages" type="array of string">
      Languages for autogenerated code snippets. See [supported languages](/api-playground/overview#all-supported-languages) for the full list of available languages and aliases.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="defaults" type='"required" | "all"'>
      Whether to include optional parameters in generated examples. Defaults to `all`.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="prefill" type="boolean">
      Whether to prefill the playground with example values from your OpenAPI specification. Defaults to `false`.
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="autogenerate" type="boolean">
      Whether to generate code samples for endpoints from your API specification. Defaults to `true`. When set to `false`, only manually written code samples (from `x-codeSamples` in OpenAPI or `<RequestExample>` components in MDX) appear in the playground.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="api.mdx" type="object">
  Settings for API pages built from MDX files rather than OpenAPI specs.

  <Expandable title="api.mdx">
    <ResponseField name="auth" type="object">
      Authentication configuration for MDX-based API requests.

      <Expandable title="auth">
        <ResponseField name="method" type='"bearer" | "basic" | "key" | "cobo"'>
          Authentication method for API requests.
        </ResponseField>
        <ResponseField name="name" type="string">
          Authentication parameter name for API requests.
        </ResponseField>
      </Expandable>
    </ResponseField>
    <ResponseField name="server" type="string or array">
      Base URL prepended to relative paths in page-level `api` frontmatter fields. Not used when the frontmatter contains a full URL.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>
</ResponseField>

## Example

{/* vale off */}

```json docs.json
{
  "api": {
    "openapi": ["openapi/v1.json", "openapi/v2.json"],
    "playground": {
      "display": "interactive"
    },
    "params": {
      "expanded": "all",
      "post": ["nullable", "x-internal"]
    },
    "url": "full",
    "examples": {
      "languages": ["curl", "python", "javascript", "go"],
      "defaults": "required",
      "prefill": true,
      "autogenerate": true
    }
  }
}
```

{/* vale on */}