Technical writer / systems explainer
Complex tools, made useful.
I’m Joan Ayebola. I write practical, evidence-led guides to developer tools, platforms, infrastructure, and data systems.
- Technical Writer at freeCodeCampRanked freeCodeCamp’s #1 top contributor in 2024 and author of three handbooks.
- API documentation at PagaDocumentation for Paga’s payment APIs.
- Guest and ghost authorArticles for SitePoint, Hackmamba, and Strapi.
- Computer Science degreeSoftware engineer and technical writer with 4+ years of experience.
Latest field notes
New writing
Giving an AI Agent a Memory: Patterns, Storage, and What to Forget
Build a practical memory layer for an AI agent, choose where each kind of memory lives, and design retrieval and forgetting that you can trust.
From API Keys to Scoped Tokens: Upgrading a Public API's Auth Without Breaking Clients
Migrate a public API from all-powerful API keys to scoped, expiring tokens: design the scopes, run both systems in parallel, and deprecate keys without breaking clients.
Designing Rate Limits Developers Won't Hate: Quotas, Headers, and Graceful 429s
Design rate limits that protect your API without punishing good clients: fair quotas, honest headers, and 429 responses developers can act on.
Designing an API Reference Developers Actually Read: Examples, Errors, and Auth Up Front
An API reference is read under pressure, mid-debug. Design it that way: auth before endpoints, a worked example per operation, and errors documented like features.
Published elsewhere
Earlier work
Current focus areas
What I cover
These are where most of my recent writing sits, not the limit of it. I also write about other developer tools, platforms, and technical products. Tell me what you’re working on.