> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://payload-plugin-openapi.seshuk.im/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Generate OpenAPI 3.0/3.1/3.2 documents from your Payload CMS config and serve them with Scalar or Swagger UI.

`@seshuk/payload-plugin-openapi` builds an OpenAPI document straight from your Payload CMS config. Add it to your `plugins` array and you get a complete spec — collections, globals, auth, versions, and jobs — plus an interactive API reference, with zero annotation needed.

The document is built lazily from the fully sanitized config, so endpoints and fields added by other plugins show up too, regardless of plugin order.

## Key features

* **Full spec from your config** — collections, globals, auth, versions, and jobs are documented automatically.
* **Native metadata** — document custom endpoints and refine field schemas with Payload's own `custom.openapi` key. No wrapper, no separate registry.
* **Interactive docs out of the box** — mount Scalar or Swagger UI, or both.
* **Localized** — descriptions resolve through your Payload i18n; the UI ships translations for 44 locales.
* **Precise filtering** — control exactly which entities and operations are exposed.
* **Security marking** — operations are marked public or secured by probing your access functions, with per-entity and per-operation overrides.
* **File generation** — write the spec to disk for CI, schema diffs, or client codegen.
* **One option for the spec version** — OpenAPI 3.0, 3.1, or 3.2 from the same config.

## Requirements

Payload `^3.53.0` and Node.js 20 or later.

## Where to go next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quick start" icon="rocket" href="/quick-start">
    Install the plugin and get a live spec and docs UI in one config change.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="sliders" href="/configuration/overview">
    Every plugin option, from metadata to caching and extensions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Docs UI" icon="book-open" href="/configuration/docs-ui">
    Serve Scalar or Swagger UI, and pass configuration through to either.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filters" icon="filter" href="/configuration/filters">
    Choose which entities and operations end up in the spec.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Security marking" icon="lock" href="/configuration/security-marking">
    How operations are marked public or secured, and how to override it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Custom endpoints" icon="plug" href="/guides/custom-endpoints">
    Document your own endpoints with a plain OpenAPI Operation Object.
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI generation" icon="terminal" href="/cli/generate">
    Write the spec to a file with `payload openapi:generate`.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Examples" icon="code" href="/guides/examples">
    Copy-ready configurations for common setups.
  </Card>
</Columns>