diff --git a/docs/api.md b/docs/api.md
index 219af8694..56db2edea 100644
--- a/docs/api.md
+++ b/docs/api.md
@@ -143,8 +143,7 @@ curl --unix-socket /tmp/cloud-hypervisor.sock -i \
      -H 'Content-Type: application/json'         \
      -d '{
          "cpus":{"boot_vcpus": 4, "max_vcpus": 4},
-         "kernel":{"path":"/opt/clh/kernel/vmlinux-virtio-fs-virtio-iommu"},
-         "cmdline":{"args":"console=ttyS0 console=hvc0 root=/dev/vda1 rw"},
+         "payload":{"kernel":"/opt/clh/kernel/vmlinux-virtio-fs-virtio-iommu", "cmdline":"console=ttyS0 console=hvc0 root=/dev/vda1 rw"},
          "disks":[{"path":"/opt/clh/images/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.raw"}],
          "rng":{"src":"/dev/urandom"},
          "net":[{"ip":"192.168.10.10", "mask":"255.255.255.0", "mac":"12:34:56:78:90:01"}]
@@ -311,8 +310,7 @@ APIs work together, let's look at a complete VM creation flow, from the
 		-H 'Content-Type: application/json'         \
 		-d '{
 			"cpus":{"boot_vcpus": 4, "max_vcpus": 4},
-			"kernel":{"path":"/opt/clh/kernel/vmlinux-virtio-fs-virtio-iommu"},
-			"cmdline":{"args":"console=ttyS0 console=hvc0 root=/dev/vda1 rw"},
+			"payload":{"kernel":"/opt/clh/kernel/vmlinux-virtio-fs-virtio-iommu", "cmdline":"console=ttyS0 console=hvc0 root=/dev/vda1 rw"},
 			"disks":[{"path":"/opt/clh/images/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.raw"}],
 			"rng":{"src":"/dev/urandom"},
 			"net":[{"ip":"192.168.10.10", "mask":"255.255.255.0", "mac":"12:34:56:78:90:01"}]