diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure/src/docs/asciidoc/endpoints/startup.adoc b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure/src/docs/asciidoc/endpoints/startup.adoc
index 76ac18e2365c..e2ea646c6360 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure/src/docs/asciidoc/endpoints/startup.adoc
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-actuator-autoconfigure/src/docs/asciidoc/endpoints/startup.adoc
@@ -4,11 +4,10 @@
 The `startup` endpoint provides information about the application's startup sequence.
 
 
-
 [[startup-retrieving]]
 == Retrieving the Application Startup steps
 
-To retrieve the steps recorded so far during the application startup phase , make a `POST` request to `/actuator/startup`, as shown in the following curl-based example:
+To drain and return the steps recorded so far during the application startup phase, make a `POST` request to `/actuator/startup`, as shown in the following curl-based example:
 
 include::{snippets}/startup/curl-request.adoc[]
 
@@ -16,12 +15,12 @@ The resulting response is similar to the following:
 
 include::{snippets}/startup/http-response.adoc[]
 
-
+NOTE: Each such call removes the returned steps from the buffer.
 
 [[startup-retrieving-response-structure]]
 === Response Structure
 
-The response contains details of the application startup steps recorded so far by the application.
+The response contains details of the application startup steps.
 The following table describes the structure of the response:
 
 [cols="2,1,3"]
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/production-ready-features.adoc b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/production-ready-features.adoc
index eb4cce878a9c..9e395a5df723 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/production-ready-features.adoc
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/production-ready-features.adoc
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ The following technology-agnostic endpoints are available:
   Disabled by default.
 
 | `startup`
-| Shows the startup steps data collected by the `ApplicationStartup`.
+| Shows the <<spring-boot-features.adoc#boot-features-application-startup-tracking,startup steps data>> collected by the `ApplicationStartup`.
   Requires the `SpringApplication` to be configured with a `BufferingApplicationStartup`.
 
 | `threaddump`
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/spring-boot-features.adoc b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/spring-boot-features.adoc
index 1c9006c9c240..f840abb47906 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/spring-boot-features.adoc
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/docs/asciidoc/spring-boot-features.adoc
@@ -485,7 +485,7 @@ Once configured, you can record data by running the application with the Flight
 
 Spring Boot ships with the `BufferingApplicationStartup` variant; this implementation is meant for buffering the startup steps and draining them into an external metrics system.
 Applications can ask for the bean of type `BufferingApplicationStartup` in any component.
-Additionally, Spring Boot Actuator will <<production-ready-features.adoc#production-ready-endpoints, expose a `startup` endpoint to expose this information as a JSON document>>.
+Additionally, Spring Boot Actuator will {spring-boot-actuator-restapi-docs}/#startup[expose a `startup` endpoint to expose this information as a JSON document].
 
 [[boot-features-external-config]]
 == Externalized Configuration