diff --git a/docs/.pages b/docs/.pages
index 0ff863e2..0e1a6421 100644
--- a/docs/.pages
+++ b/docs/.pages
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ nav:
- Get Started:
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- architecture
+ - ref
+ - howto
- how-to
- tools
- ...
diff --git a/docs/howto/.pages b/docs/howto/.pages
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fcb573ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/howto/.pages
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+title: User How-to
diff --git a/docs/howto/authenticate_cognito.md b/docs/howto/authenticate_cognito.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d8894095
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/howto/authenticate_cognito.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Cognito authentication workflow (pre deployment)
+
+This is a temporary solution until we can deploy a dev environment for PeopleDepot.
+
+There's a few manual steps and the login is good for only an hour at a time.
+
+Prerequisites:
+
+- [ModHeader](https://modheader.com/modheader/download) browser extension
+
+Steps:
+
+1. Login (or register first then login) to a cognito account [here](https://hackforla-vrms-dev.auth.us-west-2.amazoncognito.com/login?client_id=3e3bi1ct2ks9rcktrde8v60v3u&response_type=token&scope=openid&redirect_uri=http://localhost:8000/admin). Do not worry if you see error messages - you will be using the url.
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449364-e3bba6e9-ced5-498f-a0e6-0c93c8a036fb.png)
+
+1. Copy the URL when it redirects. **Note:** Instead of the screen below, the screen may display an error message. You can ignore any error messages.
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449368-f16b19de-9372-436c-b65d-c5afadbcbc1a.png).
+
+1. Extract the `access_token` using the [online tool](https://regexr.com/6ro69).
+
+ 1. Clear the top box and paste the URL text into it. The box should show there's 1 match
+ 1. The bottom box's content is the extracted `access_token`
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449537-2a9570a5-6361-48ae-b348-506244d592ac.png)
+
+1. Open [ModHeader](https://modheader.com/modheader/download). If the icon is hidden, click on the Puzzle icon in the upper right of the browser to see it.
+
+1. Type the word Bearer and paste the token into [ModHeader](https://docs.modheader.com/using-modheader/introduction) Authorization: Bearer \
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449582-3de548f4-769b-43ac-82b3-06ec2845ead2.png)
+
+1. Go to a page in api/v1/ to see that it allows access
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449777-36f95985-9e19-4010-ba5f-6f9eb3324c2b.png)
+
+1. Explore APIs using [Swagger](http://localhost:8000/api/schema/swagger-ui)
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449905-43a95335-20b8-4bf4-8a1b-10b95b7c48be.png)
+
+1. Some fields have hints on how to retrieve the values.
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184449693-a4b9a0e8-75b2-41f0-b52d-83c8c2c4ac20.png)
+
+1. A redoc ui is also available
+
+ [
](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1160105/184450043-eb1e4af8-f957-4e85-8959-6863fb1f04bf.png)
diff --git a/docs/ref/.pages b/docs/ref/.pages
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77899da0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/ref/.pages
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+title: Reference
diff --git a/docs/ref/api_endpoints.md b/docs/ref/api_endpoints.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..45927541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/ref/api_endpoints.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+We're using OpenAPI (swagger) for API documentation. We won't have a public URL for it until it's deployed. A ReDoc interface is also available.
+
+These are the URLs in the local dev environment
+
+- http://localhost:8000/api/schema/swagger-ui/
+- http://localhost:8000/api/schema/redoc/