Why a reference page is the source to trust
An interface reference exists so that code written against it works. Everything in it will be tested by somebody within days, which makes it the most reliable kind of vendor document and the narrowest in what it covers. As of 2026-09-12.
| What the page gives | How much weight it carries |
|---|---|
| A parameter name and type | High; code fails immediately if it is wrong |
| A stated default | High, and it is the field most references omit |
| A description of the effect | Moderate; prose is not tested by a compiler |
| Anything about accounts or plans | Usually absent; a different page owns it |
Inclusion rule. The kinds of statement a request or response reference contains. Order. Most reliable first.
1A default is the single most useful field on the page
A capability describes what is possible. A default describes what happens, and almost everything produced at volume happens by default, because nobody revisits a parameter once a pipeline works.
References often name a parameter without saying what an unset request does. Where the default is stated, a reader can describe the behaviour of every call their integration has ever made without looking at the code.
2Types are contracts and prose is a hint
A field documented as a boolean is a boolean, because code passing a string would break and somebody would file a ticket. A sentence describing what the boolean does has no such enforcement.
So a register quoting a reference should lean on the mechanical parts and treat the descriptive parts the way it treats any other prose: as the vendor's account, recorded with its date.
3The silence of a reference is unusually meaningful
If a behaviour were configurable, the reference would have to describe the field that configures it, or callers could not use it. So a missing control is stronger evidence here than a missing feature on a plan page.
It is still not proof. Undocumented parameters exist, and behaviour can depend on account state the reference never mentions. The record notes what the page says and leaves the rest to a test.
4What a per-call control does to record-keeping
An account setting has a current value somebody can read. A parameter carried by one request has a value that existed for the duration of that request and nowhere else afterwards.
Which means a reference-documented control is the most precise thing to read and the hardest thing to establish about a file made last quarter. Only the caller's own logs can answer, and only if somebody chose to keep them.
Background on mechanism and practice. Nothing here is attributed to a product, and nothing here is a reading of any instrument. The sourced material is on the generator table. Related: Reading a support article, Reading a repository.