diff --git a/src/tef/trace_tef.ml b/src/tef/trace_tef.ml
index e7ba602..0d45ea0 100644
--- a/src/tef/trace_tef.ml
+++ b/src/tef/trace_tef.ml
@@ -99,13 +99,16 @@ let key_async_id : int Meta_map.Key.t = Meta_map.Key.create ()
 let key_async_data : (string * [ `Sync | `Async ] option) Meta_map.Key.t =
   Meta_map.Key.create ()
 
+(** Writer: knows how to write entries to a file in TEF format *)
 module Writer = struct
   type t = {
     oc: out_channel;
     mutable first: bool;  (** first event? *)
-    must_close: bool;
+    must_close: bool;  (** Do we have to close the underlying channel [oc]? *)
     pid: int;
   }
+  (** A writer to a [out_channel]. It writes JSON entries in an array
+      and closes the array at the end. *)
 
   let create ~out () : t =
     let oc, must_close =
@@ -128,6 +131,10 @@ module Writer = struct
     flush self.oc;
     if self.must_close then close_out self.oc
 
+  let with_ ~out f =
+    let writer = create ~out () in
+    protect ~finally:(fun () -> close writer) (fun () -> f writer)
+
   let[@inline] flush (self : t) : unit = flush self.oc
 
   let emit_sep_ (self : t) =
@@ -246,9 +253,13 @@ module Writer = struct
     ()
 end
 
+(** Background thread, takes events from the queue, puts them
+    in context using local state, and writes fully resolved
+    TEF events to [out]. *)
 let bg_thread ~out (events : event B_queue.t) : unit =
-  let writer = Writer.create ~out () in
-  protect ~finally:(fun () -> Writer.close writer) @@ fun () ->
+  (* open a writer to [out] *)
+  Writer.with_ ~out @@ fun writer ->
+  (* local state, to keep track of span information and implicit stack context *)
   let spans : span_info Span_tbl.t = Span_tbl.create 32 in
   let local_q = Queue.create () in
 
@@ -307,6 +318,8 @@ let bg_thread ~out (events : event B_queue.t) : unit =
         (Span_tbl.length spans);
     ()
 
+(** Thread that simply regularly "ticks", sending events to
+    the background thread so it has a chance to write to the file *)
 let tick_thread events : unit =
   try
     while true do
@@ -341,6 +354,8 @@ let collector ~out () : collector =
     let shutdown () =
       if A.exchange active false then (
         B_queue.close events;
+        (* wait for writer thread to be done. The writer thread will exit
+           after processing remaining events because the queue is now closed *)
         Thread.join t_write
       )