diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dfb5a864f..ac102c601 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -38,3 +38,15 @@ user-manual-de-pdf:
 developer-manual-pdf:
 	cd developer_manual && make latexpdf
 	@echo "Developer manual build finished; PDF is updated"
+
+api-docs: clean-api-docs
+	mkdir -p developer_manual/api/
+	sh get-server-sources.sh master
+	composer install
+	php generateApiDoc.php
+	
+clean: clean-api-docs
+	rm -r admin_manual/_build developer_manual/_build developer_manual/api user_manual/_build user_manual_de_/_build
+
+clean-api-docs:
+	rm -fr developer_manual/api/
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0facd795
--- /dev/null
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "minimum-stability": "dev",
+    "require": {
+        "juliushaertl/phpdoc-to-rst": "dev-master"
+    }
+}
diff --git a/developer_manual/index.rst b/developer_manual/index.rst
index b1f5365d0..bdcfc6a12 100644
--- a/developer_manual/index.rst
+++ b/developer_manual/index.rst
@@ -22,3 +22,4 @@ Table of contents
     core/index
     bugtracker/index
     commun/index
+    api
diff --git a/generateApiDoc.php b/generateApiDoc.php
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..956fe40bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/generateApiDoc.php
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) 2017 Julius Härtl <jus@bitgrid.net>
+ *
+ * @author Julius Härtl <jus@bitgrid.net>
+ *
+ * @license GNU AGPL version 3 or any later version
+ *
+ *  This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *  it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ *  published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+ *  License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *  GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ *  along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ */
+
+/*
+ * This is a short example on how you can generate the API documentation for Nextcloud
+ */
+
+include __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
+
+use JuliusHaertl\PHPDocToRst\ApiDocBuilder;
+
+$nextcloudSource = [
+    __DIR__ . '/server/lib/public',
+    __DIR__ . '/server/lib/private',
+];
+$destinationDirectory = __DIR__ . '/developer_manual/api';
+
+$apiDocBuilder = new ApiDocBuilder($nextcloudSource, $destinationDirectory);
+$apiDocBuilder->setVerboseOutput(true);
+$apiDocBuilder->setDebugOutput(true);
+$apiDocBuilder->addExtension(\JuliusHaertl\PHPDocToRst\Extension\InterfaceImplementors::class);
+$apiDocBuilder->addExtension(\JuliusHaertl\PHPDocToRst\Extension\TocExtension::class);
+$apiDocBuilder->addExtension(\JuliusHaertl\PHPDocToRst\Extension\PublicOnlyExtension::class);
+$apiDocBuilder->build();
+
diff --git a/get-server-sources.sh b/get-server-sources.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..667c0574a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/get-server-sources.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Clone Nextcloud server repo into $CWD/server
+# if it already exists the latest commits from 
+# the specified branch will be fetched
+
+NC_BRANCH="${1:-master}"
+
+if [ -d server/.git ]; then
+    cd server && git fetch &&  git checkout $NC_BRANCH && git reset --hard origin/$NC_BRANCH 
+else
+    git clone https://github.com/nextcloud/server server
+fi;