swagger-ui-express vs swagger-jsdoc
API Documentation Tools Comparison
1 Year
swagger-ui-expressswagger-jsdoc
What's API Documentation Tools?

Swagger is a powerful toolset for designing, building, documenting, and consuming RESTful APIs. It allows developers to define their APIs in a standardized format, which can then be used to generate interactive documentation, client SDKs, and server stubs. The combination of swagger-jsdoc and swagger-ui-express provides a comprehensive solution for integrating OpenAPI specifications into Node.js applications, facilitating better communication between developers and stakeholders by providing clear and interactive API documentation.

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swagger-ui-express1,620,2421,44324 kB458 months agoMIT
swagger-jsdoc628,9511,715712 kB402 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: swagger-ui-express vs swagger-jsdoc

Documentation Generation

  • swagger-ui-express:

    swagger-ui-express serves the generated OpenAPI documentation in a visually appealing and interactive format. It provides a web interface where users can view the API endpoints, see the expected request and response formats, and even test the API directly from the documentation. This enhances the usability of your API documentation significantly.

  • swagger-jsdoc:

    swagger-jsdoc allows you to generate OpenAPI documentation from JSDoc comments in your code. This means you can write your API documentation alongside your code, ensuring that it remains consistent and up-to-date as your API evolves. It supports various OpenAPI features, including paths, parameters, responses, and security definitions, making it a powerful tool for maintaining accurate documentation.

Integration

  • swagger-ui-express:

    swagger-ui-express integrates with Express middleware, allowing you to easily serve the generated OpenAPI documentation as part of your web application. This means you can provide API documentation at a specific endpoint, making it accessible to developers and users.

  • swagger-jsdoc:

    swagger-jsdoc integrates seamlessly with your existing Node.js application by parsing JSDoc comments and generating a JSON representation of your API documentation. This makes it easy to incorporate into your build process or development workflow without requiring significant changes to your codebase.

Customization

  • swagger-ui-express:

    swagger-ui-express supports customization of the UI, including themes, layout, and even the ability to add custom logos or branding. This allows you to tailor the documentation experience to match your application's look and feel.

  • swagger-jsdoc:

    swagger-jsdoc allows for customization of the generated documentation through JSDoc annotations. You can define custom tags, descriptions, and examples, giving you fine-grained control over how your API is documented and presented.

Ease of Use

  • swagger-ui-express:

    swagger-ui-express is user-friendly and provides an intuitive interface for exploring APIs. Developers can easily navigate through the API endpoints, making it simple to understand how to interact with the API without needing extensive documentation.

  • swagger-jsdoc:

    swagger-jsdoc is easy to set up and use, especially for developers familiar with JSDoc. The learning curve is minimal, as it leverages existing documentation practices to generate API specs, making it accessible for teams already using JSDoc for code documentation.

Community and Support

  • swagger-ui-express:

    swagger-ui-express is part of the larger Swagger ecosystem, which is well-supported and maintained. There are numerous tutorials, documentation, and community forums available to assist with any challenges you may encounter.

  • swagger-jsdoc:

    swagger-jsdoc has a growing community and is widely used in the Node.js ecosystem. This means you can find plenty of resources, examples, and community support to help you implement and troubleshoot your documentation generation.

How to Choose: swagger-ui-express vs swagger-jsdoc
  • swagger-ui-express:

    Choose swagger-ui-express if you want to serve interactive API documentation in your Express application. It provides a user-friendly interface for exploring your API endpoints, making it easier for developers and users to understand and test the API.

  • swagger-jsdoc:

    Choose swagger-jsdoc if you need a way to generate OpenAPI documentation directly from your JSDoc comments in your code. It's particularly useful for projects where you want to keep your API documentation close to the codebase, ensuring that it stays up-to-date with the implementation.

README for swagger-ui-express

Swagger UI Express

| Statements | Branches | Functions | Lines | | --------------------------- | ----------------------- | ------------------------- | -------------------- | | Statements | Branches | Functions | Lines |

This module allows you to serve auto-generated swagger-ui generated API docs from express, based on a swagger.json file. The result is living documentation for your API hosted from your API server via a route.

Swagger version is pulled from npm module swagger-ui-dist. Please use a lock file or specify the version of swagger-ui-dist you want to ensure it is consistent across environments.

You may be also interested in:

  • swagger-jsdoc: Allows you to markup routes with jsdoc comments. It then produces a full swagger yml config dynamically, which you can pass to this module to produce documentation. See below under the usage section for more info.
  • swagger tools: Various tools, including swagger editor, swagger code gen etc.

Usage

Install using npm:

$ npm install swagger-ui-express

Express setup app.js

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument));

or if you are using Express router

const router = require('express').Router();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

router.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve);
router.get('/api-docs', swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument));

Open http://<app_host>:<app_port>/api-docs in your browser to view the documentation.

If you want to set up routing based on the swagger document checkout swagger-express-router

swagger-jsdoc

If you are using swagger-jsdoc simply pass the swaggerSpec into the setup function:

// Initialize swagger-jsdoc -> returns validated swagger spec in json format
const swaggerSpec = swaggerJSDoc(options);

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerSpec));

Swagger Explorer

By default the Swagger Explorer bar is hidden, to display it pass true as the 'explorer' property of the options to the setup function:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  explorer: true
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

Custom swagger options

To pass custom options e.g. validatorUrl, to the SwaggerUi client pass an object as the 'swaggerOptions' property of the options to the setup function:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  swaggerOptions: {
    validatorUrl: null
  }
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

For all the available options, refer to Swagger UI Configuration

Custom CSS styles

To customize the style of the swagger page, you can pass custom CSS as the 'customCss' property of the options to the setup function.

E.g. to hide the swagger header:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customCss: '.swagger-ui .topbar { display: none }'
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

Custom CSS styles from Url

You can also pass the url to a custom css file, the value must be the public url of the file and can be relative or absolute to the swagger path.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customCssUrl: '/custom.css'
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

You can also pass an array of css urls to load multiple css files.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customCssUrl: [
    '/custom.css',
    'https://example.com/other-custom.css'
  ]
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

Custom JS

If you would like to have full control over your HTML you can provide your own javascript file, value accepts absolute or relative path. Value must be the public url of the js file.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customJs: '/custom.js'
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

You can also pass an array of js urls to load multiple js files.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customJs: [
    '/custom.js',
    'https://example.com/other-custom.js'
  ]
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

It is also possible to add inline javascript, either as string or array of string.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customJsStr: 'console.log("Hello World")'
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
  customJsStr: [
    'console.log("Hello World")',
    `
    var x = 1
    console.log(x)
    `
  ]
};

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument, options));

Load swagger from url

To load your swagger from a url instead of injecting the document, pass null as the first parameter, and pass the relative or absolute URL as the 'url' property to 'swaggerOptions' in the setup function.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');

var options = {
  swaggerOptions: {
    url: 'http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json'
  }
}

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(null, options));

To load multiple swagger documents from urls as a dropdown in the explorer bar, pass an array of object with name and url to 'urls' property to 'swaggerOptions' in the setup function.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');

var options = {
  explorer: true,
  swaggerOptions: {
    urls: [
      {
        url: 'http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json',
        name: 'Spec1'
      },
      {
        url: 'http://petstore.swagger.io/v2/swagger.json',
        name: 'Spec2'
      }
    ]
  }
}

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(null, options));

Make sure 'explorer' option is set to 'true' in your setup options for the dropdown to be visible.

Load swagger from yaml file

To load your swagger specification yaml file you need to use a module able to convert yaml to json; for instance yaml.

npm install yaml
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const fs = require("fs")
const YAML = require('yaml')

const file  = fs.readFileSync('./swagger.yaml', 'utf8')
const swaggerDocument = YAML.parse(file)

app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serve, swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocument));

Modify swagger file on the fly before load

To dynamically set the host, or any other content, in the swagger file based on the incoming request object you may pass the json via the req object; to achieve this just do not pass the the swagger json to the setup function and it will look for swaggerDoc in the req object.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {}

app.use('/api-docs', function(req, res, next){
    swaggerDocument.host = req.get('host');
    req.swaggerDoc = swaggerDocument;
    next();
}, swaggerUi.serveFiles(swaggerDocument, options), swaggerUi.setup());

Two swagger documents

To run 2 swagger ui instances with different swagger documents, use the serveFiles function instead of the serve function. The serveFiles function has the same signature as the setup function.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocumentOne = require('./swagger-one.json');
const swaggerDocumentTwo = require('./swagger-two.json');

var options = {}

app.use('/api-docs-one', swaggerUi.serveFiles(swaggerDocumentOne, options), swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocumentOne));

app.use('/api-docs-two', swaggerUi.serveFiles(swaggerDocumentTwo, options), swaggerUi.setup(swaggerDocumentTwo));

app.use('/api-docs-dynamic', function(req, res, next){
  req.swaggerDoc = swaggerDocument;
  next();
}, swaggerUi.serveFiles(), swaggerUi.setup());

Link to Swagger document

To render a link to the swagger document for downloading within the swagger ui - then serve the swagger doc as an endpoint and use the url option to point to it:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const swaggerUi = require('swagger-ui-express');
const swaggerDocument = require('./swagger.json');

var options = {
    swaggerOptions: {
        url: "/api-docs/swagger.json",
    },
}
app.get("/api-docs/swagger.json", (req, res) => res.json(swaggerDocument));
app.use('/api-docs', swaggerUi.serveFiles(null, options), swaggerUi.setup(null, options));

Requirements

  • Node v0.10.32 or above
  • Express 4 or above

Testing

  • Install phantom
  • npm install
  • npm test