Generate SDK snippets

Fern allows you to add SDK code snippets to your documentation. This is useful for showing how to use your SDK in different languages. By default, Fern will generate cURL snippets. By following the steps below, you can add code snippets for other languages.

Language support

TypeScript and Python are the SDK code snippet languages supported today. Our development work is driven by customer requests, so please request support for another language by opening an issue.

Configuring SDK Snippets

To configure SDK snippets, you’ll need to name your SDKs in generators.yml and then reference that name in docs.yml. In the following example, We’ll use your-organization as the package name because it is a common practice. For example, Stripe calls their npm package stripe and Twilio calls their PyPI package twilio.

Step 1: Add examples to your API definition.

In order to generate code snippets, Fern needs to read request examples from your API definition. If you’re using a Fern Definition, you can follow these instructions. If you’re using an OpenAPI Specification, you can follow these instructions.

Step 2: Define a package name for your SDK(s).

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groups:
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  production:
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    generators:
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      - name: fernapi/fern-python-sdk
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        version: 0.7.6
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        output:
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          location: pypi
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          token: ${PYPI_TOKEN}
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          package-name: YOUR_ORGANIZATION # <---- add this field
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        ...
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     - name: fernapi/fern-typescript-node-sdk
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        version: 0.9.0
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        output:
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          location: npm
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          token: ${NPM_TOKEN}
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          package-name: YOUR_ORGANIZATION # <---- add this field
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        ...        

Step 3: Add the package name to your docs configuration.

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navigation:
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  - api: API Reference
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    snippets:
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      python: YOUR_ORGANIZATION  # <---- needs to match the naming in generators.yml
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      typescript: YOUR_ORGANIZATION 

Access via API

If you’d like to bring SDK snippets into your own documentation, you can use the Snippets API. API access requires a SDK Business plan or above.

Merge.dev is an example of a Fern customer that uses the Snippets API to bring Python code samples into their API Reference.

Endpoint request and response snippets

Looking for information on generating API endpoint request and response snippets? See our documentation on Endpoint Snippets.