Guides
Practical explainers written to help you decide and build, without hype.
What Is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)? A Practical Guide
MCP explained without hype: what servers, clients and tools are, local vs remote servers, and how to pick one safely.
7 min readHow to Choose a Third-Party API: A 12-Point Checklist
Before you build on someone else's API, check these twelve things: pricing, limits, reliability, data rights and exit costs.
6 min readCron Syntax Cheat Sheet with 25 Real Examples
A no-nonsense cron reference: the five fields, special characters, macros, 25 copy-paste schedules and common pitfalls.
6 min readVolumetric Weight Explained: How Carriers Really Price Your Parcels
Why a big light box costs more than a small heavy one, the divisors carriers use, and five ways to cut shipping costs.
7 min readAPI Pricing Models Compared: Free Tiers, Subscriptions and Pay-As-You-Go
How API providers price access, what each model means for your costs, and how to forecast an API bill.
6 min read20 Free Public APIs for Your Next Side Project
Hand-picked free APIs, many needing no key, for weather, maps, books, space, food, holidays and more, with project ideas.
8 min readWebhooks Explained: Delivery, Retries and Signature Verification
How webhooks work, why you must verify signatures, a correct HMAC check in Node.js and Python, and how to handle retries safely.
7 min readAPI Key Security: 10 Rules to Keep Your Keys (and Bill) Safe
Where API keys leak, how attackers find them within minutes, and ten practical rules for storing, scoping and rotating keys.
7 min readRate Limits, Retries and Exponential Backoff: A Practical Guide
How API rate limits work, which errors to retry, exponential backoff with jitter, and copy-paste retry code for JavaScript and Python.
7 min readREST vs GraphQL vs gRPC: Which API Style Should You Use?
A balanced comparison of REST, GraphQL and gRPC (plus webhooks and MCP), with a decision guide for real projects.