How Flatfile Upgraded Their Developer Experience With Mintlify
Flatfile's Head of Product Engineering, Ashley Mulligan, shares how their documentation is key to attracting and keeping happy customers.
About
Smart APIs for file-based data import
Backed by
Tiger Global, Gradient Ventures, Scale Ventures, Workday Ventures, Afore Capital, and Two Sigma Ventures, and investments from founding executives and leadership from Airtable, DocuSign, LinkedIn, and Gainsight.
Flatfile is an API-first platform that allows developers to collect, clean, validate, and convert data seamlessly. With Flatfile, developers don't have to build their own data import solutions or spend hours on manual database validations.
Developers choose Flatfile to save time. That's why making sure they can easily find the answers they need in Flatfile's docs is a priority for the company. “Developer documentation plays a pivotal role in growth and our ability to run our business,” says Ashley Mulligan, Flatfile's Head of Product Engineering.
The hunt for a new documentation partner
Ashley leads writing and updating docs for Flatfile, a Series B startup with about 70 employees. With its previous documentation solution, The Flatfile team was constantly modifying the design of its docs to meet the company's high design and UX standards.
Styling markdown with Custom CSS isn't that hard, but it's time consuming,” she says. “And trying to get everything to match isn't how you want to spend your time.”
So when Flatfile relaunched its product in the summer of 2023—eliminating low and no-code options to lean into a library of file-based data import APIs—it decided to upgrade to a new documentation provider.
Flatfile had two main requirements: high-quality design and robust built-in features and components. The company sought the flexibility and customization of in-house documentation without the time-consuming process. Mintlify stood out right away, Ashley says.
Well-organized docs and supercharged search
Flatfile's relaunch meant it didn't need to import any docs to Mintlify. Getting up and running was as simple as cloning a starter repo and pushing to Git. Although Mintlify offers plenty of options for customization, Ashley only had to make a few simple adjustments to give the docs the look and feel Flatfile wanted.
Mintlify's prebuilt UI allowed Flatfile to quickly create organized docs for a smooth developer experience.
“The left sidebar and the nested nature of the sidebar are really clean,” says Ashley. “And the top nav allows you to build microsites within Mintlify. So when I click on a top nav item, I have a whole new sidebar for that area, which gives us a lot of lanes to put content in and separate things.”
Mintlify's ChatGPT-powered search enhances the developer experience by offering relevant context, code snippets, and sources, enabling developers to swiftly find precisely what they need
Scaling documentation for the future
Mintlify allows Flatfile's documentation to be viewed on mobile devices, which is great for building interest with people who are casually browsing, says Ashley.
Ashley has started to have others authoring and updating docs with Mintlify.
“I've begun an initiative to get all of our product engineers thinking of docs as part of their launch for a new feature or a change to an existing one,” she says. “And so eventually all product engineers at Flatfile will contribute to docs in a more pronounced way, which includes contributing to the Mintlify repo.”
Getting Started with Mintlify
Want to set up docs like Flatfile? You can get started at mintlify.com/start or request a demo with our team.