Codapi FAQ

What's the difference between Codapi and {other_playground}?

Codapi is specifically designed to meet the needs of documentation authors (and their audience). It supports any programming language, package or software. And it's open source!

What if Codapi is down or you decide to sunset it? Will my documentation suffer any consequences?

Your documentation will be the same as it was before Codapi — with only static code examples. It'll remain just as readable and useful to readers as it was before.

You can also configure the widget to display predefined output when Codapi is down, so even the "Run" button will work.

And if you decide to hide Codapi widgets at any time, you can do so with a single CSS rule.

How secure is it?

Running in-browser playgrounds is 100% secure, because, well, the reader is running them in their own browser. Server-side sandboxes are also quite secure because they run in highly restricted Docker containers. But, of course, the sandbox server should not have any access to sensitive data.

How fast is it?

In-browser playgrounds work almost instantly (after the initial download). Server-side sandboxes take 1-3 seconds, depending on hardware and software.

How is it implemented?

The sandbox server is a 3 MB Go binary. You can run it on a $5 server for low to medium workloads (with caching enabled).

The widget is a 5 KB JavaScript file.

What languages/packages/databases are supported?

If you use the cloud version — the ones listed on the website. If you self-host — anything that can run in a Docker container.

Can I use it for non-public APIs and software within an organization?

If you self-host — absolutely.

Can I use it with a full-featured editor like Monaco or CodeMirror?

Yep.

How do I start?

See the Getting started section.