Developer Platform Design
Developer Experience Principles
- Time to first API call < 5 minutes. If it takes longer, your onboarding is broken.
- Show, don't describe. Code examples beat paragraphs.
- Copy-paste ready. Every code example should work when pasted.
- Error messages are documentation. Include fix suggestions in error output.
- Don't require signup to explore. Show docs publicly.
Documentation
- Quick start guide on the homepage.
- Interactive API explorer (try-it-now).
- Code examples in multiple languages.
- Changelog with clear breaking change indicators.
- Status page linked from docs.
CLI Design
- --help that's actually helpful.
- Colored output for readability.
- Progress indicators for long operations.
- Confirmation prompts for destructive operations.
- JSON output option for scripting.
Dashboard
- API key management (create, revoke, rotate).
- Usage metrics and quota.
- Logs and error tracking.
- Webhook management and testing.
