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xiaoymin/knife4j

★ 4,525HTMLAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TLDR

Knife4j is a Java library that automatically generates interactive API documentation from your Swagger or OpenAPI annotations, giving developers a browsable, testable reference page at /doc.html with no manual writing required.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((knife4j))
    What it does
      API docs generation
      Interactive browser
      Auto from annotations
    Tech Stack
      Java
      Vue 2
      Vue 3
      Docker
      HTML
    Use Cases
      Backend API docs
      Team API reference
      Quick API testing
    Standards
      Swagger 2
      OpenAPI 3
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Add automatic interactive API documentation to a Java Spring Boot project that updates itself as the code changes

USE CASE 2

Share a browsable API reference page with your frontend team so they can explore endpoints without asking questions

USE CASE 3

Run knife4j-insight as a standalone Docker container to serve API docs separately from the main application

Tech stack

JavaVue 2Vue 3DockerHTML

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 30min

Requires Swagger or OpenAPI annotations already present in your Java project.

No licence information was provided in the explanation.

In plain English

Knife4j is a tool for Java developers who build web APIs and need to generate readable API documentation automatically. It started as a project called swagger-bootstrap-ui and was later renamed knife4j (the name is meant to evoke something sharp and light, like a small knife). The core job it does is take the Swagger or OpenAPI annotations in a Java project and turn them into a browsable, interactive documentation page. The README is written in Chinese and targets Java developers. The short version for a non-technical reader: when a backend team builds an API, other developers need to know what endpoints exist, what data each one accepts, and what it returns. Knife4j generates that reference automatically from the code, so no one has to write and maintain a separate document by hand. It works with the two main API specification standards in common use, Swagger 2 and OpenAPI 3, and has integrations for popular Java web frameworks. Once installed, you visit a page at the address /doc.html on your server and get the full interactive API browser. That entry point has been kept constant and the README notes it will not change. The project is organized into several modules. The main knife4j module provides the Java middleware layer. knife4j-insight is a standalone ready-to-run version distributed as a Docker image. There is also a documentation module, a Vue 2 frontend, and a Vue 3 frontend contributed by the community. The project is actively maintained and has its own documentation site. A QR code in the README leads to a community chat group.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Help me add Knife4j to my Spring Boot project so it generates API documentation automatically from my controller annotations
Prompt 2
How do I configure Knife4j to require a login before showing the API documentation page?
Prompt 3
Show me how to add custom descriptions to my REST endpoints so they appear clearly in the Knife4j documentation
Prompt 4
How do I run knife4j-insight as a standalone Docker container to host my API docs separately from my app?
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