TL;DR: AIPs are lots of documents on how Google does APIs.

AIP stands for API Improvement Proposal, which is a design document providing high-level, concise documentation for API development. The goal is for these documents to serve as the source of truth for API-related documentation at Google and the way API teams discuss and come to consensus on API guidance. The program is named and styled after Python's enhancement proposals (PEPs) which have seemed to work pretty well over the years.

While much of the API-related guidance is general and spans across all the different products at Google, we've found that some teams working in different areas may have different customs, styles, or guidance. To accommodate these historical differences, we've provided separate blocks of numbers for those areas where they might override or extend the more general guidance.

If you're new to AIPs, check out the Frequently Asked Questions which answer some common questions about how AIPs work and what you need to know.

If you like what you see and want to adopt the general AIPs for your organization, check out our guide on Adopting AIPs in your company. This guide walks you through how to start using AIPs and write your own guidance specific to your organization.

If you have an idea for an AIP that isn't written yet (yes, there are plenty!) check out Contributing to the project to see how you can write AIPs for others to follow.

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