✨ AI-Optimized Docs: By Developers - For Developers

Let’s be honest—no one has time to dig through bloated documentation anymore. With tools like Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Cody, Cline, and Aider gaining traction, developers expect a smarter, faster way to explore APIs. So we built exactly that.

Our new AI-Optimized Developer Docs give you direct access to machine-readable JSON or Markdown by simply adding ai. in front of any URL. Feed it into your own LLM tooling, plug it into your autocomplete engines, or connect it to your internal AI bots. It’s docs reimagined for modern builders.

Whether you’re working with an in-store setup, pure online, or unified commerce, getting the right information is now faster and easier.

Built to Integrate With the Tools You Already Love 💙

Whether you’re using Claude, Grok or Gemini for inline dev guidance, Cursor or Windsurf for code editing, Cody, Aider, or cline to automate scaffolding and refactors, our AI-optimized docs fit right into your stack. No parsing needed. Just clean, structured data—ready to ship with your next build.

What’s New in the Docs?

We’ve made two significant enhancements to our developer documentation to better support AI-driven tools, LLMs, and automation workflows.

1. AI-Optimized Documentation (JSON & Markdown)

Every page of our developer documentation is now available in structured JSON and Markdown formats, making it easier for AI tools and automation systems to parse, interpret, and leverage. To access this new format, simply add ai. to the existing developer documentation URL. For example:

Standard Documentation:

developers.surfboardpayments.com/api/orders

AI-Optimized Version:

ai.developers.surfboardpayments.com/api/orders

2. llms.txt – Optimized for Large Language Models

We’ve also introduced a llms.txt file to guide AI models on how to efficiently crawl and interpret our developer documentation. This ensures that:

🔹 AI-powered search engines can deliver precise and relevant results.

🔹 Developers using AI assistants (like Claude or Grok) get accurate API references.

🔹 Automated code generation tools can understand and utilize our documentation more effectively.

But this you all reading this already know. Found here: https://ai.developers.surfboardpayments.com/llms.txt

The Future of Developer Experience

1. Accelerating Development Workflows

Time spent searching through documentation is time not spent coding. By making our documentation AI-readable, we are reducing friction for developers who need quick answers and structured API references.

With AI-powered search and automation, you can:

• Get instant API lookups instead of manually navigating docs.
• Use AI-powered coding assistants to fetch API data seamlessly.
• Automate error resolution by querying AI models trained on our structured documentation.

2. Enhancing AI and Chatbot Integrations

With JSON and Markdown formats, our documentation can now be used by AI-based customer support, development assistants, and chatbots. For example:

• If you’re building a custom developer assistant, you can feed it our structured JSON API documentation for better responses.
• If you’re integrating Surfboard Payments into an existing POS or ERP, you can automate API requests based on structured references.

3. Preparing for the AI-Powered Future

Generative AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) are transforming software development. By ensuring our developer documentation is AI-ready, we are setting the foundation for:

🚀 AI-generated code snippets based on real API references.
🚀 Smarter documentation search and support tools.
🚀 Automated troubleshooting and integration support.

🔮 Coming Soon: Surfboard MCP Plugin

We’re not stopping here. We’re about to launch our MCP Plugin—an intelligent, developer-first tool that will make working with Surfboard’s platform even easier, including context-aware API autocomplete, instant payload previews, endpoint connection mapping & real-time testing

Keep an eye on this one 👀