Clarify that hidden API endpoints are automatically noindexed (#4575)

Co-authored-by: fern-support <support@buildwithfern.com>
Co-authored-by: bot_apk <apk@cognition.ai>
Co-authored-by: Devin Logan <devinannlogan@gmail.com>

Author: 4 people

fern/products/docs/pages/api-references/customize-api-ref.mdx

@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ To customize the display of an endpoint, you can add a `title`. You can also use
 
 ### Hiding endpoints
 
-You can hide an endpoint from the API Reference by setting `hidden` to `true`. The endpoint will still be accessible at its URL.
+You can hide an endpoint from the API Reference by setting `hidden` to `true`. The endpoint will still be accessible at its URL but is automatically excluded from search engine indexing (`noindex`), so [you don't need to set `noindex`](/learn/docs/customization/hiding-content#hiding-an-api-endpoint).
 
 <Tabs>
   <Tab title="OpenAPI">
@@ -530,6 +530,6 @@ The following properties can be set on the `- api` entry in your `docs.yml` navi
 </ParamField>
 
 <ParamField path="api-name" toc={true} type="string">
-  Only used when your project has [multiple APIs](/learn/docs/api-references/generate-api-ref#include-more-than-one-api-reference). The value must match the folder name containing the API definition. Do not set this property if you only have a single API, as it will cause errors.
+  Only used when your project has [multiple APIs](/learn/docs/api-references/generate-api-ref#include-more-than-one-api-reference). The value must match the folder name containing the API definition. Don't set this property if you only have a single API, as it will cause errors.
 
 </ParamField>

fern/products/docs/pages/navigation/hiding-content.mdx

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ title: Hiding content in your site
 
 <Markdown src="/snippets/agent-directive.mdx"/>
 
-Fern provides two settings for hiding content: `hidden: true` (set in `docs.yml`) removes pages, sections, or versions from the sidebar, and `noindex: true` (set in [page frontmatter](/learn/docs/configuration/page-level-settings#noindex)) removes pages from search engines and [llms.txt](/learn/docs/ai-features/llms-txt).
+Fern provides two settings for hiding content: `hidden: true` (set in `docs.yml`) removes pages, sections, versions, and endpoints from the sidebar, and `noindex: true` (set in [page frontmatter](/learn/docs/configuration/page-level-settings#noindex)) removes pages from search engines and [llms.txt](/learn/docs/ai-features/llms-txt).
 
 ## Hiding a page
 
@@ -79,3 +79,18 @@ versions:
 </Tab>
 </Tabs>
 
+## Hiding an API endpoint
+
+You can hide individual API endpoints from the sidebar by setting `hidden: true` in the endpoint's layout configuration in `docs.yml`. Hidden endpoints are automatically excluded from search engine indexing so there's no need to set `noindex: true`.
+
+```yaml title="docs.yml" {6}
+navigation:
+  - api: API Reference
+    layout:
+      - plants:
+          - endpoint: POST /plants/{plantId}
+            hidden: true
+```
+
+For full configuration details including examples for OpenAPI, Fern Definition, WebSocket, and GraphQL endpoints, see [Hiding endpoints](/learn/docs/api-references/customize-api-reference-layout#hiding-endpoints).
+