diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index da7e5641cb..a2ea8a501d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: check api reports and generate API reference
         run: yarn build:api-reports:only --ci --docs
 
+      - name: verify api reference
+        run: node scripts/verify-api-reference.js
+
       - name: verify changesets
         run: node scripts/verify-changesets.js
 
diff --git a/scripts/verify-api-reference.js b/scripts/verify-api-reference.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..f298b6f222
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/verify-api-reference.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/* eslint-disable import/no-extraneous-dependencies */
+
+const { resolve: resolvePath } = require('path');
+const { promises: fs } = require('fs');
+
+async function main() {
+  const indexContent = await fs.readFile(
+    resolvePath(__dirname, '../docs/reference/index.md'),
+    'utf8',
+  );
+
+  if (!indexContent.includes('types used within Backstage')) {
+    throw new Error(
+      'Could not find package documentation for @backstage/types in the API reference index',
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+main().catch(error => {
+  console.error(error.stack);
+  process.exit(1);
+});
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index ee2969ba05..5a8fe4e6fb 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -4928,7 +4928,7 @@
     js-yaml "~3.13.1"
     resolve "~1.17.0"
 
-"@microsoft/api-extractor-model@7.15.1":
+"@microsoft/api-extractor-model@7.15.1", "@microsoft/api-extractor-model@^7.15.1":
   version "7.15.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@microsoft/api-extractor-model/-/api-extractor-model-7.15.1.tgz#e52d68676e846d8b86e3b18e2654af39fba6e4a1"
   integrity sha512-DWfS1o3oMY0mzdO3OuQbD/9vzn80jwM6tFd7XbiYnkpxwhD83LMGXz7NZWwSh+IaA+9w3LF4w62fT31Qq+dAMw==
@@ -4937,15 +4937,6 @@
     "@microsoft/tsdoc-config" "~0.15.2"
     "@rushstack/node-core-library" "3.44.2"
 
-"@microsoft/api-extractor-model@^7.15.1":
-  version "7.15.3"
-  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@microsoft/api-extractor-model/-/api-extractor-model-7.15.3.tgz#cf76deeeb2733d974da678f530c2dbaceb18a065"
-  integrity sha512-NkSjolmSI7NGvbdz0Y7kjQfdpD+j9E5CwXTxEyjDqxd10MI7GXV8DnAsQ57GFJcgHKgTjf2aUnYfMJ9w3aMicw==
-  dependencies:
-    "@microsoft/tsdoc" "0.13.2"
-    "@microsoft/tsdoc-config" "~0.15.2"
-    "@rushstack/node-core-library" "3.45.0"
-
 "@microsoft/api-extractor@^7.19.2":
   version "7.19.2"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@microsoft/api-extractor/-/api-extractor-7.19.2.tgz#8c546003523163c1432f6e19506065f790d6182c"
@@ -5758,21 +5749,6 @@
     timsort "~0.3.0"
     z-schema "~5.0.2"
 
-"@rushstack/node-core-library@3.45.0":
-  version "3.45.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@rushstack/node-core-library/-/node-core-library-3.45.0.tgz#8c86b39271b6d84260b1e70db87e1e265b54f620"
-  integrity sha512-YMuIJl19vQT1+g/OU9mLY6T5ZBT9uDlmeXExDQACpGuxTJW+LHNbk/lRX+eCApQI2eLBlaL4U68r3kZlqwbdmw==
-  dependencies:
-    "@types/node" "12.20.24"
-    colors "~1.2.1"
-    fs-extra "~7.0.1"
-    import-lazy "~4.0.0"
-    jju "~1.4.0"
-    resolve "~1.17.0"
-    semver "~7.3.0"
-    timsort "~0.3.0"
-    z-schema "~5.0.2"
-
 "@rushstack/rig-package@0.3.6":
   version "0.3.6"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@rushstack/rig-package/-/rig-package-0.3.6.tgz#a57b53db59106fb93bcda36cad4f8602f508ebc6"