Guides

Sharing via hotlinks

Public URLs that serve your spec as JSON or YAML, edge-cached.

Updated

A hotlink is a public URL that serves your spec to anyone — no account needed. The response is JSON or YAML, edge-cached on Cloudflare’s network, so it’s fast wherever it’s fetched from.

Use cases

  • Point a Swagger UI / Redoc / Stoplight Elements instance at the latest spec.
  • Feed an SDK codegen step in CI.
  • Hand a partner a single URL instead of an attachment they’ll lose.
  • Embed live in a marketing or status page.

Open the spec, click Share in the export panel:

  1. Visibility — Private (default) or Public. Public is required for hotlinks.
  2. Slug — the URL path. Defaults to a stable identifier; you can pick a friendly slug.
  3. Title — used in the public spec viewer header.
  4. Save.

You’ll get two URLs:

https://openapistudio.app/v1/specs/<slug>.json
https://openapistudio.app/v1/specs/<slug>.yaml

Both serve the same content in different formats. Append ?download=1 to force a download dialog.

How freshness works

Hotlinks are edge-cached for 5 minutes. Saving an edit invalidates the cache so changes propagate within a few seconds — but downstream tools that poll less than every few minutes will see stable content.

For absolute freshness (e.g. a CI step), append ?bust=<timestamp> to bypass the edge cache.

Public spec viewer

The plain URL https://openapistudio.app/v1/specs/<slug> (no extension) renders a public, read-only viewer with:

  • Sidebar of operations.
  • Per-operation parameters, request, responses.
  • Try-it-out button (uses the same /api/execute proxy when the visitor is signed in).
  • Copy as cURL.
  • JSON / YAML download buttons.

This is what you share with non-technical stakeholders.

If you need a stable URL but don’t want it fully public, generate an access token under spec settings. The hotlink then requires ?token=<token> to resolve. Tokens can be revoked and rotated independently of the slug.

Flip the spec back to Private in spec settings. The next request returns a 404 immediately; the cache invalidates within 5 minutes globally.