→ hello
Hi, I'm James. I build API infrastructure that scales, and write about the experience.
I'm the CEO and co-founder of Unkey, Open source API infrastructure. Before that I spent seven years doing developer advocacy, platform engineering, and what I'd now call "infrastructure product" at companies you've probably heard of.
I started this site in 2019 because I couldn't find clear, practical writing about the decisions I was making every day — the kind of posts that go beyond "use the latest framework" and into the why. Six years and forty-odd posts later, it's still the place I think out loud.
Most of what I write here falls into one of four buckets: thought leadership, engineering deep dives, quick TILs, and book notes. I try to make each post the thing I wish I'd read six months earlier.
"Write the post you'd send to a friend. Edit it until you wouldn't mind a stranger reading it."
— a rule i stole from someone smarter
Work
2023 —
CEO & Co-founder
Unkey · open source API infrastructure
Shipping Open source API infrastructure. Series seed, eight people, shipping in the open.
2022 — 2023
Developer Success
Clerk · auth for modern apps
Helped developers ship auth without losing a weekend to it. Tutorials, sample apps, and a lot of time in support channels learning what people actually get stuck on.
2021 — 2022
Developer Advocate
TinaCMS · open source content
Wrote, spoke, and built demos around headless CMS workflows. Learned how much of devrel is just "answer the same question better than last time."
2018 — 2021
Team Manager
Plaid · fintech infrastructure
Ran a team supporting one of the largest API platforms in fintech. First taste of running infra at real scale, and of how much hinges on the boring details.
How to reach me
Best way is email — I read everything, I reply to most, and if you're pitching something it'll get there faster if you put the ask in the first paragraph. Twitter is where I'm most active, alongside GitHub.
If you're thinking of starting a company, I'll buy the coffee.