Accept vs Content-Type: what they do and how they differ
A clear, practical explanation of the HTTP Accept and Content-Type headers, how they interact, and how this differs from ETag behavior, with examples and a checklist.
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Useful questions, clear assumptions and room to understand the details.
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A practical reading note
What a publishing workflow needs to prove
A useful publishing record answers three questions: what was approved, what was sent, and what actually appeared.
Read the note ↗A practical reading noteCompare automation costs with one workload
A monthly price means little until both options are asked to do the same work.
Read the note ↗A practical reading noteWrite an automation handoff that someone can own
A workflow is easier to maintain when its ordinary path and its failure path have names.
Read the note ↗A practical reading noteAccepted is a state, not a published page
Follow a request beyond the first HTTP response, then verify the result that matters to the reader.
Read the note ↗A practical reading noteBefore retrying, find the first attempt
A lost response can leave a real side effect behind. Keep the operation identity through recovery.
Read the note ↗A practical reading noteGive each field one write rule
A small ownership table can prevent a large synchronization argument.
Read the note ↗New from the working library
The latest practical questions, worked examples and guides from Stack & Method.
Authentication vs authorization in APIs (with request signing)
A clear, practical distinction between API authentication and authorization, focused on how request signing proves who sent the request while separate checks decide what they can do.
How to do cursor-based pagination
A practical guide to implementing API cursor pagination with a next token: picking a stable order, building opaque cursors, HTTP patterns, SQL examples and common pitfalls.
How to use pagination in an SQL query with a cursor?
Practical, source-backed steps to implement cursor (keyset) pagination in SQL: deterministic ordering, indexed columns, next-page WHERE filters, and opaque cursors, with PostgreSQL examples.
HTTP API vs REST API: what it means for webhook events that arrive out of order
A clear answer to HTTP API vs REST API and why neither guarantees webhook ordering. Practical patterns to accept, dedupe and reconcile events when deliveries are out of order.
Is keyset pagination the same as cursor pagination?
A practical comparison of keyset vs cursor pagination, how they relate, and how to implement a scalable next/previous flow.