# Swagger

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Swagger and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Developers recommend it for generating API docs and a GUI from definitions, and it pairs well with Zod. Critics say its out-of-band approach conflicts with REST.

## Why people recommend it

- Pairs well with Zod (2 comments): "the swagger+zod integration is pretty decent, though it changes the typical patterns a bit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801454)) "Hono + Zod + Swagger is pretty nice all around" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45801543))
- Automates work from API definitions (2 comments): "why not let swagger do that for you at compile time?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46780773)) "Swagger evens that advantage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777127))

## What people warn about

- Conflicts with REST principles (2 comments): "they are the antithesis of REST, because they are the very out of band information that a REST client isn't allowed to depend on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46752878)) "Swagger and OpenAPI were attempts to solve problems that only exist because we didn't stick with REST" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46755636))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [OpenAPI Specification](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openapi.md): 30 recommend
- [TypeSpec](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typespec.md): 11 recommend
- [Skir](https://hackerapproved.com/p/skir.md): 7 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Swagger", https://hackerapproved.com/p/swagger/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).