docs: add "Try Fern without an account" page for guest sessions and Fern Drop by nerminamiller-postman · Pull Request #7865 · fern-api/docs

nerminamiller-postman · 2026-11-13T21:23:20Z

Summary

Adds a visible, canonical page for the no-account flow, at /learn/docs/getting-started/try-without-account (Docs > Getting started, after Quickstart). Before this, guest mode only had short notes in the CLI reference, the Docs quickstart, and the hidden agent instructions.

The page covers:

Agent prompts (the two from Naman's team guide) and what the agent does before it stops at the claim link
Running it yourself: fern generate --docs --guest (Fern Drop drop-<id> site, fern folder upload, --no-source) and fern generate --guest (download only, --preview, 7-day build page)
Claiming in the dashboard or with fern login + fern claim [--org], then Connect GitHub (docs) or Publish to GitHub / Set up Fern repository (SDKs)
Expiration, usage limits, and a commands/options table

Sources: the Slack walkthrough, fern-guest-reference.pdf and fern-agent-guide.pdf from that thread, and the CLI source (resolveGuestProject.ts, describeGuestRejection.ts, claimGuestSession.ts).

Also adds one-line links to the page from the Docs quickstart and the --guest sections of docs-commands.mdx and sdk-commands.mdx.

Bumps fern/fern.config.json from CLI 5.204.1 to 5.215.2 to unblock the preview build (CLI 5.215.0+ refuses to run projects pinned below it). Same change as #7866; whichever merges first, the other rebases cleanly.

Open questions for reviewers

Numeric limits. The reference PDF says the limits (5 SDK build units and 10 docs publishes per session, a 3-hour session, the drop-site caps, a 10-minute claim grant, a 24-hour redirect) are service config that "can be changed without a code release" and are "not yet documented publicly". Are we OK publishing them? If not, I'll cut the two tables down to the behavior alone.
Overlap with open PRs. Document fern/ folder upload and --no-source for guest docs publishes #7795 (--no-source) and fern instructions: ask the user before using --guest #7838 (ask before --guest) touch the same CLI reference sections. This PR only adds one sentence there, so any conflicts should be trivial.

Link to Devin session: https://app.devin.ai/sessions/0923b7af18b546cc9f9775c05e4f1b69
Open in Devin Desktop: https://app.devin.ai/desktop/session/0923b7af18b546cc9f9775c05e4f1b69?variant=devin
Requested by: @nerminamiller-postman

🟢 Devin Review found nothing to fix · View findings

…n Drop Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

devin-ai-integration · 2026-11-13T21:23:24Z

I'll fix CI failures and address comments from users with write access. I'll skip comments containing "(aside)".

Disable automatic comment, CI, and merge conflict monitoring

devin-ai-integration

✅ Devin Review: No Issues Found

Devin Review analyzed this PR and found no bugs or issues to report.

Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:39:14Z

🌿 Preview your docs: https://fern-preview-devin-1794604866-guest-fern-drop.docs.buildwithfern.com/learn

Here are the markdown pages you've updated:

Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:49:18Z

  ```

-  [`--guest`](/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/docs-commands#guest) starts a temporary guest session and publishes your site to a `drop-<id>.docs.buildwithfern.com` URL, ignoring the `organization` in `fern.config.json` and the URL in `docs.yml`. The output includes a claim link; open it (or run [`fern claim`](/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/general-commands#fern-claim) after `fern login`) to move the site into your organization before the session expires. Guest publishing needs CLI 5.182.0 or later: the `version` in `fern.config.json` is what runs, so run [`fern upgrade`](/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/general-commands#fern-upgrade) if yours is older. Guest sessions aren't available on every Fern environment yet; if the CLI reports `Could not start a guest session`, log in and publish normally.
+  [`--guest`](/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/docs-commands#guest) starts a temporary guest session and publishes your site to a `drop-<id>.docs.buildwithfern.com` URL, ignoring the `organization` in `fern.config.json` and the URL in `docs.yml`. The output includes a claim link; open it (or run [`fern claim`](/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/general-commands#fern-claim) after `fern login`) to move the site into your organization before the session expires. See [Try Fern without an account](/learn/docs/getting-started/try-without-account) for the full flow, limits, and expiration. Guest publishing needs CLI 5.182.0 or later: the `version` in `fern.config.json` is what runs, so run [`fern upgrade`](/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/general-commands#fern-upgrade) if yours is older. Guest sessions aren't available on every Fern environment yet; if the CLI reports `Could not start a guest session`, log in and publish normally.


📝 [vale] <Microsoft.OxfordComma> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use the Oxford comma in ', log in and publish normally.'.

Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Create a docs site from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to create a docs website for this spec using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <FernStyles.FirstPerson> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use first person (such as 'I') sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Create a docs site from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to create a docs website for this spec using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <FernStyles.FirstPerson> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use first person (such as ' I') sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Create a docs site from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to create a docs website for this spec using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <FernStyles.FirstPerson> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use first person (such as 'me') sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Create a docs site from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to create a docs website for this spec using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <Microsoft.QuestionMarks> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use questions sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Generate an SDK from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to generate an SDK for this using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <FernStyles.FirstPerson> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use first person (such as 'I') sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Generate an SDK from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to generate an SDK for this using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <FernStyles.FirstPerson> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use first person (such as ' I') sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Generate an SDK from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to generate an SDK for this using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <FernStyles.FirstPerson> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use first person (such as 'me') sparingly.

github-actions · 2026-11-13T21:54:17Z

+  title="Generate an SDK from an OpenAPI spec"
+  actions={["cursor", "claude", "chatgpt"]}
+>
+I have this OpenAPI spec `./openapi.yml` and I need to generate an SDK for this using Fern. Can you do this for me?


📝 [vale] <Microsoft.QuestionMarks> _{reported by reviewdog 🐶}
Use questions sparingly.

devin-ai-integration · 2026-11-13T22:05:23Z

Preview links for the changed pages. The page now lives under Docs > Getting started. The bot's learn/docs/try-without-account link is stale and 404s.

New page, Try Fern without an account: https://fern-preview-devin-1794604866-guest-fern-drop.docs.buildwithfern.com/learn/docs/getting-started/try-without-account
Docs quickstart (guest section links to the new page): https://fern-preview-devin-1794604866-guest-fern-drop.docs.buildwithfern.com/learn/docs/getting-started/quickstart
CLI reference, fern generate --docs --guest: https://fern-preview-devin-1794604866-guest-fern-drop.docs.buildwithfern.com/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/docs-commands#guest
CLI reference, fern generate --guest: https://fern-preview-devin-1794604866-guest-fern-drop.docs.buildwithfern.com/learn/cli-api-reference/cli-reference/sdk-commands#guest

Written by Devin

docs: add Try Fern without an account page for guest sessions and Fer…

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…n Drop Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

nerminamiller-postman requested a review from jkonrath-postman as a code owner November 13, 2026 21:23

devin-ai-integration Bot assigned nerminamiller-postman Nov 13, 2026

devin-ai-integration Bot reviewed Nov 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

chore: bump Fern CLI to 5.215.2 to unblock preview

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Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

docs: move guest page to Docs > Getting started

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Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions Bot reviewed Nov 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

docs: fix guest page slug under Getting started

4ecd5ef

Co-Authored-By: Devin AI <158243242+devin-ai-integration[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

github-actions Bot reviewed Nov 13, 2026

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nerminamiller-postman requested a review from iamnamananand996 November 13, 2026 22:05

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