---
published: true
layout: post
title: The Intersection of Static Docs, Interactive Docs, Explorer, and API Clients
tags:
  - Clients
  - Explorers
  - Interactive Documentation
  - Playgrounds
image: >-
  https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/algorotoscope-master/america-immigration_dumping-ground-old-piano-playing-hospital.jpg
---
The intersection of static API documentation, interactive API documentation, API explorers, and API clients is a fascinating neighborhood that we see ebb and flow with excitement, investment, and abandonment every cycle or two in the space, and like a hip Brooklyn neighborhood we are finding ourselves coming back around for some more fun. We can all agree that API documentation is always better when hands-on and interactive, but we find ourselves at another round of investment in how we onboard, learn, and engage with APIs.

  - [API Explorer from Bump](https://docs.bump.sh/product-updates/2025/01/09/api-explorer/)
  - [Docs, Interactive Playground, and Client from Scalar](https://bit.ly/3DMAsCZ)
  - [Open Source and Local Bruno API Client](https://bit.ly/4fpe6FO)

There is more investment beyond these three, but these players represent the feature spread being discussed at this intersection. SwaggerUI interactive documentation made a big splash when they first came out, eliciting competitive responses from [3Scale](https://apievangelist.com/2012/02/15/interactive-api-documentation-now-available-with-3scale/), [Mashery](https://apievangelist.com/2011/08/02/mashery-open-sources-their-api-io-docs/), and [Apigee](https://apievangelist.com/2011/03/07/apigee-api-console-is-now-free-for-everyone-to-use/) made a massive impact with their API Explorer featuring some of the big names in APIs back then (still today). Eventually all of this faded, Redoc’s static approach became shiny and new, and Postman’s client and collection distracted everyone with portability and run buttons--it will be interesting to see where things go this round.