diff --git a/doc/api.rst b/doc/api.rst
index c1ca2d8804a..6c54da01d08 100644
--- a/doc/api.rst
+++ b/doc/api.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 .. currentmodule:: xarray
 
+.. _api:
+
 #############
 API reference
 #############