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API Documentation in Bruno

Bruno has two distinct documentation features, and it helps to know which one you're looking for:

<Card title="Write Docs in Bruno" icon="pen-line" href="/api-docs/workspace-docs"

Author markdown documentation alongside your requests — at the workspace, collection, folder, and request level — rendered inside the Bruno app.

<Card title="Generate HTML Docs" icon="globe" href="/html-docs/overview"

Have Bruno build a standalone, interactive HTML documentation site from a collection — with a live playground, search, and code samples — that you can deploy anywhere.

Writing docs is an authoring feature: you write the content yourself in markdown, and it lives with your collection for anyone working in Bruno to read.

Generating docs is a publishing feature: Bruno produces a shareable HTML file from what's already in your collection, for consumers of your API who may never open Bruno at all.

The two features connect in one direction: the markdown docs you write at each level are included in the generated HTML site as the descriptions for your collection, folders, and requests. Write once in Bruno, publish everywhere.

Write Docs in Bruno

Bruno allows you to create API documentation at four distinct levels: Workspace, Collection, Folder, and Request.

With full Markdown support you can write clear, concise, and well-structured documentation at each level, supplemented with screenshots, and other media to ensure your users have a seamless onboarding experience.

Rich Text and Markdown Editing

The Docs tab includes a WYSIWYG (rich text) editor built on top of Markdown. You can use the following features to create your documentation:

  • Formatting text - Format text visually using a toolbar (headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, lists, task lists, tables, quotes, inline code, code blocks, undo/redo).
  • Rich Text and Markdown - Toggle between rich text and markdown modes at any time, content stays synchronized because Markdown remains the underlying source of truth.
  • Syntax-highlighted and Code blocks - Paste or insert code blocks with language auto-detection and a language selector (JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, JSON, YAML, SQL, Bash, and more). Highlighting follows the active Bruno theme.
  • Syntax-highlighted Markdown editor - Use a syntax-highlighted Markdown editor when editing in Markdown mode.
  • Video and Images - Embed videos and images that render correctly in both edit and preview.
  • Copy code - Copy code from any block with the copy control, in both edit and preview modes.

This lets non-technical teammates author documentation without writing raw Markdown, while power users can still edit Markdown directly.

  1. Document a workspace
  2. Document a collection
  3. Document a folder
  4. Document a request

Bruno sanitizes all HTML in documentation blocks before rendering. This prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks when previewing markdown that contains embedded HTML. Elements like script tags and inline event handlers are automatically removed.

Generate HTML Docs

Bruno can automatically generate a standalone HTML documentation file for your entire collection — an interactive site with an environment switcher, full-text search, a try-it playground, and auto-generated code samples.

Learn about generated HTML docs