Even well-documented APIs aren’t immune to integration challenges. Efficient support and troubleshooting mechanisms on the developer portal can mean the difference between frustration and success.
We need more than basic FAQs or scattered documentation—users seek clarity, transparency, and tools that enable seamless problem-solving, preferably evoked at the place where they encountered the problem. Meanwhile, the candid feedback on corridors suggest that companies still take an outdated approach to integration support.
To help you avoid such issues, we explore emerging trends and best practices. This article draws on our interview with five esteemed jurors from the 2024 DevPortal Awards: Patricia Rogers, Rachel Lee Nabors, James Noes, Robert Delwood and Swapnil Sapar. Here are the key takeaways and actionable strategies from their insights to ensure your developer portal meets the rising expectations from API support and effective troubleshooting.
The Core Rule: Don’t Break the Integration
When discussing the foundations of effective API support, one point was unanimous: continuity of existing integrations is paramount. ‘Don’t break the integration and don’t break the trust of your developers,’ emphasized Swapnil. He elaborated that developers rely on consistent functionality to move forward with their work, and any disruption risks not just productivity but the reputation of the API program itself.
Actionable strategies:
- Backward compatibility: When rolling out updates, prioritize maintaining legacy functionality. If a new version of an API is introduced, ensure the older version remains supported for a reasonable period.
- Proactive communication: Alert users to potential disruptions early. Use incident updates, root cause analyses (RCAs), and status pages to keep developers informed and foster transparency. ‘Communicate disruptions early, be honest about the status pages, and proactively reach out to developers,’ Swapnil advised.
- Trust as a currency: View every interaction as an opportunity to strengthen trust. Swapnil emphasized that ‘delivering a great developer experience without aggressive marketing’ is key to long-term loyalty.
Beyond Troubleshooting Sections: Innovative Solutions
Traditional troubleshooting sections often frustrate users with their incomplete nature, most especially if it ends up serving a sales playbook rather than real help. As Rachel Lee highlighted, ‘in troubleshooting sections the information is very hard to sort through.’ There are other solutions (often more costly to maintain), for example hosting public support channels where developers can see how issues are resolved.
What are alternatives to simple troubleshooting sections?
- Public support channels: Hosting a space where users can see others’ challenges and resolutions builds confidence.
- Leverage AI to find problems as they are happening. For instance, tools like AI-debuggers can analyze right where you’re working.
- Cross-product problem solving: As Rachel Lee pointed out, ‘The challenge now is to help people use your product with all the other products out there. Robust integration between support and documentation teams is crucial.’
By rethinking the concept of troubleshooting, developer portals can shift from reactive support to proactive enablement and self-service.
Error-Handling: A First Line of Defense
Effective error-handling can significantly reduce searching through the docs on the developer portal. As James spotligthed the balancing act: ‘If error-handling is robust, portals can focus on advanced support. Conversely, weak error-handling increases the support team’s burden.’ Error messages should walk developers through their mistakes, reducing the need for external support.
For robust, actionable help:
- A good status page should still be the first thing. ‘If all of a sudden my integration stops working, I want a place where I go to see if the problem is on my end at all.’
- Clear error messages: Detailed and actionable error messages that include error codes, causes, and suggested fixes. ‘Give a first clue, a logical first step in debugging, that would go a long way.’
- Intuitive APIs: Designing APIs that guide users through common pitfalls, literally walk them through from what they are doing wrong to the resolution. This ensures that errors educate rather than frustrate.
- Community forums are great if the content is moderated. Otherwise, there may be conflicting advice and too much to sift through.
AI and Personalization in Documentation
We will increasingly expect generative AI to give us context-aware assistance in our interactions with any knowledge base. As Patricia reflected on this: ‘Users will want to go straight to the information that’s going to help them troubleshoot the error message they’re getting.’
Use of generative AI will significantly increase the operational budget, but also deliver towards rapidly rising expectations:
- AI chatbots direct users to relevant sections of the documentation. ‘People will expect an AI chatbot that can answer their questions instantly, and correctly.’
- Dynamic content delivery: Tailoring content presentation based on user behavior or integration stage can enhance the troubleshooting experience.
- Search optimization: AI-powered search engines that understand intent rather than keywords can improve usability.
Rethinking Documentation Quality
‘Support is still largely overlooked,’ Robert observed, adding that while great strides have been made in APIs and developer portals, the support team dimension still lags. He proposed focusing on providing documentation that ‘defies misunderstanding’ and stressed the importance of testing by dogfooding your own docs to achieve this.
Practices towards high-quality documentation:
- Use your own documentation: ‘Until you actually write an application using only your own documentation, you cannot understand the problems developers will encounter.’
- Integrated content: Fight against fragmenting information. If you can, embed problem resolutions directly into the integration documentation itself.
- Iterative, sustained improvements: Regular audits ensure documentation evolves with user feedback and emerging issues.
Conclusion: Transform Support from Reactive to Proactive
Support and troubleshooting are critical to building trust and fostering long-term engagement with your business partners. Especially for APIs, the importance of accessible, accurate, and developer-centric troubleshooting resources cannot be overstated. Trust is the foundation of every successful developer experience.
The future of API documentation lies in its ability to support developers effectively while minimizing friction. From maintaining integration integrity to embracing AI and refining error-handling, the insights shared by the DevPortal Awards jurors offer a roadmap for success.
Investment into good documentation will always have a payoff. Whether you’re an API lead or a documentation manager, consider how these strategies can elevate your developer portal.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series, we will bring it to you through the DevPortals Newsletter.