DevRel in 2026: Your Developer Docs Have a New User

Developer Relations has traditionally been built around one primary audience: Developers. We write docs for them. We build tutorials for them. We create SDK examples, maintain GitHub repositories, run communities, and answer implementation questions. But AI coding assistants are changing the developer journey. The developer may now ask an AI agent to research a library, understand an API, write an integration, or debug an error. That means your documentation can become an input to an AI agent before it ever reaches a developer. The new developer journey Previously: Developer → Search → Docs → Code Now: Developer ↓ AI Assistant ↓ Docs / GitHub / API Reference ↓ AI interprets information ↓ Code ↓ Developer reviews The developer is still the user. But the AI can become the first consumer of your developer experience. That's why documentation quality matters differently now. Write documentation that removes guessing Consider this: Use our SDK for authentication. It sounds simple, but it leaves a lot unanswered. A developer or AI agent still needs to figure out: Which package? How do I install it? Where does the API key go? Can I use it in the browser? What happens when authentication fails? What's the response format? A better example provides actual implementation context: const client = new Client({ apiKey: process.env.API_KEY }); const user = await client.users.get("123"); console.log(user); Then explain what the code does, what the inputs mean, and what can go wrong. This helps both audiences. Examples are part of the API An API reference without good examples can force developers to guess. AI agents have the same problem. If the API is: client.users.create(options) showing a complete request is more useful: const user = await client.users.create({ name: "Alex", email: " alex@example.com " }); Then document: Required fields Optional fields Response shape Validation errors Authentication requirements The more important the API, the less you want people guessing. Don'