[API docs drift detection]

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acme/api#847
Merged

Migrate auth from API key headers to Bearer tokens

+47−232 files changed
src/middleware/auth.ts
−const key = req.headers["x-api-key"];
−if (!key) return res.status(401);
+const token = req.headers
+ .authorization?.replace("Bearer ", "");
+if (!token) return res.status(401);
Drift detected
docs.acme.com
DocsAPI ReferenceAuthentication

API Authentication Guide

Last updated 3 weeks ago · 4 min read

All API requests require authentication. Choose one of the methods below to get started.

Stale — PR #847

Header Authentication

Include your API key in the X-Api-Key header with every request to authenticate your application.

Suggested fix · 95%

Bearer Token Authentication

Include your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header with every request.

It always starts the same way: a developer merges a PR that renames an endpoint, changes an auth flow, or deprecates a parameter. Somewhere, a help article describes behavior that no longer exists. Three days later, a customer files a support ticket. Or doesn't — and just leaves.

Editorial style

Every merged PR is a chance your docs go stale.

PR merge

Code changes a feature.

A developer merges a pull request that updates the authentication flow, changes an API response, or deprecates a parameter.

docs drifting

Docs become inaccurate.

Somewhere, a help article, API reference, or onboarding guide now describes behavior that no longer exists.

customer confusion

Customers hit a dead end.

Support tickets spike. Trust erodes. Developers build against wrong examples. Revenue leaks quietly.

sound familiar?

If any of these hit close to home, you need DocsCanary.

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We just shipped a major API change. Our docs are definitely wrong and we have no idea where.

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We get support tickets every week that boil down to: "your docs are outdated."

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A new engineer spent their first week following our Getting Started guide. Half of it didn't work.

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We have hundreds of docs pages and no automated way to know which ones are stale.

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Every sprint we say we'll update the docs. We never do. The backlog just grows.

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A customer churned and cited confusing documentation as the reason.

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real data from real audits

We've analyzed 62+ docs sites. Here's what we found.

Not a sample. Not a benchmark study. Actual findings from real docs audits run on this platform.

62/100
Average health score
across all audited sites
38%
Score below 70
the threshold we call "at risk"
1 in 3
Pages are stale
on the average docs site
0
Teams who knew
before running the audit
🔐

Auth & API endpoints are the #1 source of drift

Authentication flows, request shapes, and SDK interfaces change constantly — and the public API docs almost never keep up.

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AI coding agents now read your docs — and hallucinate when they're stale

Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot scrape your public docs to write integration code. Stale endpoints become confidently broken code shipped into your customers' apps.

⏱️

Drift is weeks old before anyone notices

The average gap between a code change and a docs update is 11 days. Most teams find out when a customer files a ticket.

JM

Jeanine, Founder

Built DocsCanary after watching engineering teams spend weeks reacting to docs drift that a five-minute automated check would have caught.

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Docs Health

Search pages...
Total Pages
847
In Sync
612
Needs Review
161
Stale
74
Documentation Health
72% In Sync
19% Drifting
9% Stale
PageStatusLast CheckedActions
API Authentication GuideZendesk
Stale2h ago
View suggestion →
Webhook ConfigurationGitBook
Drifting4h ago
View suggestion →
Rate Limits & QuotasZendesk
In Sync1h ago
—
Getting Started GuideReadMe
Drifting6h ago
View suggestion →
SDK InstallationGitBook
In Sync30m ago
—
Error Codes ReferenceNotion
In Sync2h ago
—
The state of SaaS docs

Documentation debt is real.

Most teams don't know their docs are stale until customers tell them.

⏱️

Docs lag behind code by days or weeks before anyone notices

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Customers hit outdated API references, deprecated endpoints, wrong instructions

🔕

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DocsCanary — API docs drift detection for B2B SaaS | DocsCanary