Present tense
Key Point
💡 Avoid will.
Use present tense rather than future tense; in particular, try to avoid using will where possible.
For example:
👍 Recommended: Send a query to the service. The server sends an acknowledgment.
👎 Not recommended: Send a query to the service. The server will send an acknowledgment.
Sometimes, of course, future tense is unavoidable because you're actually talking about the future. (For example: "The hedgehog will hibernate starting in October.") Attempting to predict the future in a document is a bad idea, but sometimes it's necessary.
The fact that the reader will be writing and running code in the future isn't a good reason to use future tense. Stick with present tense where possible, as shown in the "Recommended" example above.
avoid the hypothetical future would.
For example:
👍 Recommended: If you send an unsubscribe message, the server removes you from the mailing list.
👎 Not recommended: You can send an unsubscribe message. The server would then remove you from the mailing list.