Guides – A new kind of documentation for Embedded JavaScript Developers
August 19, 2026 | Peter Hoddie, Principal
No one reads the documentation. Everyone complains when there's no documentation. What's an SDK to do?
The Moddable SDK has included extensive documentation since day one. Maybe you've read some? The documentation is largely API reference. They tend to be long because, well, there is a lot of functionality to document.
And there are big gaps. The documentation doesn't cover the many ECMA-419 APIs that are the foundation of the runtime. Nor does it cover the considerable collection of Web platform APIs (e.g. fetch(), setInterval(), ReadableStream(), WebSocket(), etc.) available to Embedded JavaScript developers using the Moddable SDK.
To remedy that, we think it's time for another kind of documentation. Often you just want to know the right way to code a common task, not a detailed reference. And we know that "you" includes your LLM-powered agents.
We created Guides for developers and their LLMs:
- Task-based – how to perform a particular task
- No fluff – just what you need to know
- Code-heavy – see exactly what to do
- Best practices – no stale recommendations
- Help choosing – guidance choosing between available APIs (e.g. Web platform and ECMA-419)
- Practical – no dogma, advice on writing solid code to create solid products
The Guides cover a broad range of topics, with more to come. Here are just a few: HTTP, WebSocket, MQTT, EventSource, Streams, Logging, Time, Optimization, Wi-Fi, Files, DNS Service Discovery, and Binary Data
Each guide begins with an overview. The overview has everything you need in one place, including an index of all the tasks it covers, essential information on how to add the functionality to your project's build, and links for digging deeper:
- Implementation
- Examples
- TypeScript declarations
- Documentation
- Standards
We've also added AGENTS.md to the root of the Moddable SDK with instructions to treat the Guides as the most trusted documentation resource.
Even if you're someone who never reads documentation until it is too late, give the guides a look. You'll discover capabilities you didn't know existed, and better ways to use capabilities you use today.
We've had great success using the Guides with LLM-powered coding agents. They give them exactly the information they need to assist your coding. We're also improving the guides based on that experience. Please share with us your experience – both as a developer using the guides and as a developer working with an LLM-powered agent. We want to know what's working well and what isn't all the way there yet, so we can continue to improve the guides for all developers.