diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7f17330b..df92a1b7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #assety stuff
 public/assets
 public/metamaps_mobile
+public/api/index.html
 vendor/
 node_modules
 npm-debug.log
diff --git a/bin/build-apidocs.sh b/bin/build-apidocs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..677bbffd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/build-apidocs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Note: you need to run `npm install` before using this script or raml2html won't be installed
+
+./node_modules/.bin/raml2html -i ./doc/api/api.raml -o ./public/api/index.html
diff --git a/doc/production/first-deploy.md b/doc/production/first-deploy.md
index cc3a1f4a..b118a2b5 100644
--- a/doc/production/first-deploy.md
+++ b/doc/production/first-deploy.md
@@ -65,7 +65,14 @@ Run this in the metamaps directory, still as metamaps:
     sudo aptitude install nodejs npm
     sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node
     npm install
-    npm run build
+
+#### Precompile assets
+
+This step depends on running npm install first; assets:precompile will run `NODE_ENV=production npm run build`, and the build-apidocs.sh script requires the raml2html npm package.
+
+    rake assets:precompile
+    rake perms:fix
+    bin/build-apidocs.sh
 
 #### Nginx and SSL
 
diff --git a/doc/production/pull-changes.md b/doc/production/pull-changes.md
index 30f41cf5..1bd1ebbe 100644
--- a/doc/production/pull-changes.md
+++ b/doc/production/pull-changes.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ Now that you have the code, run these commands:
     npm install
     rake db:migrate
     rake assets:precompile # includes `npm run build`
+    bin/build-apidocs.sh
     rake perms:fix
     passenger-config restart-app .
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 12f42e6c..751ef284 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
     "lodash": "4.16.1",
     "node-uuid": "1.4.7",
     "outdent": "0.2.1",
+    "raml2html": "^4.0.0-beta5",
     "react": "15.3.2",
     "react-dom": "15.3.2",
     "socket.io": "0.9.12",
@@ -41,7 +42,6 @@
     "chai": "^3.5.0",
     "eslint": "^3.5.0",
     "eslint-plugin-react": "^6.3.0",
-    "mocha": "^3.0.2",
-    "raml2html": "^4.0.0-beta5"
+    "mocha": "^3.0.2"
   }
 }