Doc Health Check sample

An evidence-based plan for improving developer onboarding.

An example audit of API onboarding, showing how findings become specific, prioritized improvements.

Scope
4 developer journeys
Format
Evidence register
Product
API platform

Review scope

What the review covers.

The audit covers the paths a new developer would use to authenticate, send a first delivery, inspect its status, and implement a webhook receiver.

  • Quickstart and prerequisites
  • Authentication and API-key handling
  • Delivery endpoint reference
  • Webhook verification, retries, and errors

Method: task walkthrough, page-level content review, example inspection, navigation review, and consistency checks against an API contract.

Example findings

Connect each gap to a specific fix.

Each example identifies the affected journey, the documentation gap, the likely developer impact, and a corrective action.

HighOnboarding · Quickstart

First success requires information from three separate pages.

Evidence
The request example omits the base URL and sends readers elsewhere for authentication and the response shape.
Impact
A new developer cannot copy, run, and verify one complete request from the quickstart.
Recommendation
Provide prerequisites, environment-variable setup, one complete request, an expected response, and a clear success check on the same page.
HighSecurity · Authentication

API-key guidance does not distinguish server and client environments.

Evidence
The page explains the bearer header but does not warn against browser or mobile use.
Impact
Readers may expose a secret key in a public client application.
Recommendation
Add environment prefixes, storage guidance, rotation steps, and a prominent server-side-only warning.
HighReliability · Webhooks

Webhook verification is described but not implementable.

Evidence
No header name, hashing algorithm, raw-body requirement, or timing-safe comparison example is provided.
Impact
Teams cannot verify event authenticity safely from the existing instructions.
Recommendation
Document the signature contract and provide one executable server-side verification example.
MediumRecovery · Errors

Error responses do not tell developers what to do next.

Evidence
Status codes appear without stable error codes, request identifiers, or resolution guidance.
Impact
Developers and support teams cannot diagnose failures consistently.
Recommendation
Standardize the error envelope and document causes, corrective actions, and retry behavior.

Recommended sequence

Fix the developer journey in dependency order.

  1. 01
    Establish the contract

    Confirm authentication, request fields, response states, errors, and webhook behavior with engineering.

  2. 02
    Repair first success

    Build and test the complete quickstart against the confirmed contract.

  3. 03
    Complete operational guidance

    Add secure authentication, webhook verification, retries, and recovery paths.

  4. 04
    Apply reusable patterns

    Standardize endpoint, error, and workflow templates so future pages remain consistent.

Companion sample

See the recommended guidance in context.

The Relayline documentation sample includes a complete quickstart, core concepts, authentication, endpoint reference, webhooks, and error guidance.

Open the API documentationView the portal blueprint