Products · Broad category
APIs
Raised as a usability problem by 39 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 36 threads.
This is a broad category rather than one product, so its issues aren't ranked on the home page.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Poor documentation makes APIs hard to figure out how to useUnreviewed
20082026- Unnecessary abstractions make the API hard for newcomers to read and understand2025-08-24
- APIs are poorly documented, inconsistent and hard to integrate with2023-04-04
- APIs are so poorly documented that only programmers can work with them2022-05-01
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 37 complaints
- Hard to configure; convoluted setup even though it works once set up2026-05-10
- Unnecessary abstractions make the API hard for newcomers to read and understand2025-08-24
- Too many complex inputs make APIs unapproachable for users2025-05-20
- Half-closing a socket requires an unintuitive syscall2024-01-22
- Returning both an error and a value is confusing to callers2023-11-09
- APIs are poorly documented, inconsistent and hard to integrate with2023-04-04
- No way to check connection status; must attempt recv() and fail to detect disconnect2022-07-27
- Frontend must make thousands of requests and convoluted query logic instead of one query2022-05-06
- APIs are so poorly documented that only programmers can work with them2022-05-01
- Poor docs and unclear authentication make APIs hard for developers to start using2022-03-03
- Documentation is hard to navigate to find important information2022-01-20
- Hypermedia-driven APIs are awkward to navigate and use2021-10-27
- Authentication is usually a pain to get working2021-04-20
- Errors return HTTP 200 with codes buried in JSON, hiding failures from developers2019-12-11
- Bulk endpoint omits needed fields, forcing thousands of per-record requests that take minutes2019-12-09
- Awful documentation with no IDE or API reference, can't find function names2019-09-27
- Header versioning is confusing for new developers and hard to explore in a browser2019-05-12
- Many APIs are technically impossible to use correctly2019-01-19
- Search results lead to pages with no headings or quick way to find information2018-09-04
- Modern API documentation is poor, described as only a few steps above garbage2018-03-06
- Poor API design wastes users' hours on tedious setup and confusing naming2017-11-22
- Clunky to use; request body passthrough and transformation settings are hard to find and understand2017-06-21
- Library documentation is missing, incomplete, or incorrect, forcing decompilation to use APIs2017-01-24
- Non-scrollable layout hides the buttons on a 4-inch iPhone SE2016-12-04
- APIs force unusual request formats and give only 200 or 404 codes2016-08-28
- Concepts are unintuitive and the interface is hard to work with, slowing develop/test/deploy cycle2015-11-24
- Developers must read gory details and write their own HTTP client2014-10-28
- Generic error messages gave no clue what went wrong, forcing hours of guessing2014-10-28
- Misused requests get anonymous errors that don't say what was wrong2013-11-13
- API documentation is unreadable and confusing, taking a long time to figure out2013-11-13
- Poor documentation makes APIs hard to figure out how to use2012-08-25
- Opaque error codes and vague messages leave developers unable to tell what went wrong or who caused it2012-08-23
- Docs and examples were unusable for contractors building a Windows plugin2012-07-25
- Response is a 2D array with header row, awkward to use once decoded2012-06-06
- Getting API access requires filling out forms and verifying identity, which is cumbersome2010-06-28
- Developers must learn threading rules by trial and error, since docs say nothing about it2008-12-16
- Gets blocked figuring out how to use poorly documented APIs2008-08-26