An Ownership Manifest Keeps API Reference Drafts Honest

When API reference drafts maintain accurate ownership through a manifest, models solely generate narrative content while the manifest stores factual details. This system prevents the generation of unauthorized status codes, headers, or paths that the service may not have implemented. The manifest, a checked-in file, ensures that only approved values are used in the draft.

A local checker verifies the manifest, rejecting the draft if any owned value has changed or if a draft references an undefined token. Properly documenting contract drift is crucial, as a single incorrect token can misdirect an integration. Models often generate incomplete prompts with neighboring status codes, leading to reviewer confusion when paths appear familiar but have changed.

Splitting the page before inviting the model reduces the risk of hidden contract details. The manifest contains essential information such as method, path, status list, required headers, and a fixture digest. The model can draft the summary, usage notes, and recovery text using only registered tokens. Each field class must be owned by either a human or an extractor that references the OpenAPI document.

Ownership rules include methods, paths, required headers, documented statuses, and hashed example bodies. The OpenAPI Specification serves as the upstream format for these owned values. Before selecting fields for the manifest, review the OpenAPI Specification maintained by the OpenAPI Initiative. Link the file revision in the manifest to ensure future readers can access the same contract.

Draftable text should only discuss retries if already recorded as an owned fact in the manifest. If omitted, the model must refrain from inventing such details. Ownership rules ensure that humans or extractors control every copyable value, including methods, paths, required headers, documented statuses, and hashed example bodies.

The model can explain these values but must not introduce new tokens. The OpenAPI Specification is the primary source for the contract format. By following these steps, ownership remains visible throughout the drafting process, enabling transparent and accurate documentation updates.