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Jun 1, 2025
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Add a clear overview of summary vs description #130

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7 changes: 7 additions & 0 deletions specification/docs.md
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Expand Up @@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ Besides machine-readable descriptions, an OpenAPI Description (OAD) can also inc

This page shows how to take full advantage of special documentation capabilities in OpenAPI like markdown syntax or example objects.

## Summary vs Description

Many objects support both `summary` and `description` fields, and this is especially useful where documentation or other tools might show items in either list or detail view.

- `summary` is used for list view, and should be kept short. A single-sentence summary works well.
- `description` is shown when the item is being viewed in detail. The descriptions support markup and give you space to include as much information for your users as you want to. Don't be afraid to add paragraph breaks, links, or even bullet lists in these fields.
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I would be tempted to make this more determistic from the perspective of what Markdown supports i.e.

"CommonMark supports formatted text, so their is an opportunity to provide extensive, explanatory text in the description property that can be rendered by tools that support OpenAPI."

And then break into "do not..."

Doing this sets the constraints of the language, before providing advice on best practice.

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I'm happy to edit, but we're already going on a lot about the actual markdown aspect in this article. I am mostly trying to explain how the fields are used, since that information wasn't clear.


## The Description Field

Almost every object in the OpenAPI Specification accepts a `description` field which can provide additional information for developers, beyond what can be automatically generated from the API descriptions.
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion specification/index.md
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Expand Up @@ -17,5 +17,5 @@ The following pages introduce the syntax and structure of an OpenAPI Description
- [Content of Message Bodies](content): `content` and `schema`.
- [Parameters and Payload of an Operation](parameters): `parameters` and `requestBody`.
- [Reusing Descriptions](components): `components` and `$ref`.
- [Providing Documentation and Examples](docs): `description` and `example`/`examples`.
- [Providing Documentation and Examples](docs): `summary`, `description` and `example`/`examples`.
- [API Servers](servers): `servers`.