Docs Starter

Create beautiful documentation in under 5 minutes using your OpenAPI specification.

Customer showcase

Get inspired by API documentation built with Fern: Webflow | You.com | Cohere | ElevenLabs

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Requirements

• Node.js 22+ (required for npm install) or Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
• A GitHub account
• A Fern account (free to start)

Installation

Install the Fern CLI globally using one of the following methods:

npm (all platforms):

npm install -g fern-api

Homebrew (macOS / Linux):

brew install fern-api

Verify the installation:

fern --version

Repository structure

fern/
├── docs.yml              # Site config: navigation, theme, tabs, navbar links
├── fern.config.json      # Organization name and CLI version
├── generators.yml        # API spec sources (OpenAPI, AsyncAPI)
├── openapi.yaml          # Sample Plant Store OpenAPI spec
├── asyncapi.yaml         # Sample AsyncAPI spec
├── styles.css            # Custom CSS overrides
├── snippets/             # Reusable MDX content fragments
├── docs/
│   ├── pages/            # Markdown (MDX) documentation pages
│   ├── assets/           # Logos, favicon, and static assets
│   └── changelog/        # Changelog entries
└── ...
.github/
└── workflows/
    ├── check.yml         # Validates your API spec on every PR and push
    ├── preview-docs.yml  # Generates a preview URL on every PR
    └── publish-docs.yml  # Publishes docs to production on merge to main

Getting started

This repository is the official starter template for Fern Docs — the same one used in the Fern Docs quickstart. The steps below get you publishing; the quickstart walks through the same flow with more narration and screenshots.

Prefer a no-code setup? Use the guided UI to get started from your browser instead.

1. Create your repository. Click "Use this template" on GitHub and clone the result, or use the GitHub CLI. To start from an empty project instead, run fern init --docs.

   gh repo create my-org/my-docs --template fern-api/docs-starter --clone

2. Configure your organization. Set your organization name in fern/fern.config.json and your docs URL in fern/docs.yml:

   # fern/fern.config.json
   { "organization": "your-org-name", "version": "5.35.4" }

   # fern/docs.yml
   instances:
     - url: your-org-name.docs.buildwithfern.com

3. Validate your configuration.

   fern check

4. Preview locally with hot-reloading at localhost:3000.

   fern docs dev

5. Publish to go live, or add --preview for a shareable preview URL. Run fern login once first to authenticate; the credential is cached for future runs.

   fern login
   fern generate --docs

CI/CD workflows

This template includes three GitHub Actions workflows out of the box:

Workflow	Trigger	What it does
check.yml	Every PR and push to main	Runs fern check to validate your API spec
preview-docs.yml	Every PR	Generates a preview URL and posts it as a PR comment
publish-docs.yml	Push to main (after first build)	Publishes your docs to production

Setting up CI

CI/CD runs non-interactively, so it needs a Fern API key (FERN_TOKEN) instead of fern login. Generate a non-expiring key with fern token (or from the Fern dashboard under API keys), then add it as a repository secret:

1. Go to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions in your GitHub repository.
2. Click New repository secret.
3. Name it FERN_TOKEN and paste your value.

The check.yml workflow works without an API key; only preview and publish require it.

Customize your docs

Once you're up and running, tailor your docs to match your brand and product:

• Brand your docs — Set custom colors, logo, favicon, and fonts in docs.yml
• Add an API reference — Auto-generate interactive API docs from your OpenAPI spec
• Use components — Tabs, accordions, callouts, cards, and more out of the box
• Set up a custom domain — Host on your own domain (e.g., docs.example.com)
• Configure analytics — Integrate with PostHog, Segment, Google Tag Manager, and others
• Customize navigation — Add versioned docs, tabs, nested sections, and multi-product layouts

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Support

Need help? Set up a call with an expert or email us at support@buildwithfern.com.