How to generate node.js API docs using swagger

Question

I have an application developed with Node.js/expressjs. It's working fine. Now I need to generate API document using Swagger . There is a module swagger-node . Do I need to re-write the whole app using this module or is there any other solution to use this module and what is the use of swagger-ui if using swagger-node.

Answer 1

Not from what I can tell. You should be able to generate your swagger project as described, and then just make sure that the information in the yaml file points to the actual controllers and methods that your code uses.

Answer 2

You can create a standalone yaml file that is compliant with Swagger/OpenAPI which can therefore be rendered into Swagger documentation. The Swagger-UI is useful for creating this yaml file. Swagger also offers various tools for testing APIs and generating code -- to use these effectively you will need a method for integrating the controller/model definitions in your yaml file into your existing codebase.

To achieve this integration I typically expose my existing codebase as an api of controller functions -- then import it as a module into the code generated by my documented API. This allows me to trust my API documentation without the burden of porting my whole codebase into Swagger's required directory structure. I believe this is the best currently available approach but is not always worthwhile.