diff --git a/sys/include/net/nanocoap.h b/sys/include/net/nanocoap.h
index 46e947dc50..da7f80e375 100644
--- a/sys/include/net/nanocoap.h
+++ b/sys/include/net/nanocoap.h
@@ -194,13 +194,27 @@ typedef struct {
 
 /**
  * @brief   CoAP PDU parsing context structure
+ *
+ * When this struct is used to assemble the header, @p payload is used as the
+ * write pointer and @p payload_len contains the number of free bytes left in
+ * then packet buffer pointed to by @ref coap_pkt_t::hdr
+ *
+ * When the header was written, @p payload must not be changed, it must remain
+ * pointing to the end of the header.
+ * @p payload_len must then be set to the size of the payload that was further
+ * copied into the packet buffer, after the header.
+ *
+ * @ref coap_pkt_t::snips can be used to attach further payload buffers without copying them
+ * into the CoAP packet buffer.
+ * If there are any, they will be attached in order after the last payload byte
+ * (or header byte) in the original CoAP packet buffer.
  */
 typedef struct {
     coap_hdr_t *hdr;                                  /**< pointer to raw packet   */
     uint8_t *token;                                   /**< pointer to token
                                                        * @deprecated Use coap_get_token(),
                                                        *     Will be removed after 2022.10. */
-    uint8_t *payload;                                 /**< pointer to payload      */
+    uint8_t *payload;                                 /**< pointer to end of the header */
     iolist_t *snips;                                  /**< payload snips (optional)*/
     uint16_t payload_len;                             /**< length of payload       */
     uint16_t options_len;                             /**< length of options array */