diff --git a/libs/base/Data/IORef.idr b/libs/base/Data/IORef.idr
index 6231967c48..3467fdcf8b 100644
--- a/libs/base/Data/IORef.idr
+++ b/libs/base/Data/IORef.idr
@@ -17,33 +17,47 @@ export
 data IORef : Type -> Type where
      MkRef : Mut a -> IORef a
 
+||| Create a new IORef.
 export
 newIORef : HasIO io => a -> io (IORef a)
 newIORef val
     = do m <- primIO (prim__newIORef val)
          pure (MkRef m)
 
+||| Read the value of an IORef.
 %inline
 export
 readIORef : HasIO io => IORef a -> io a
 readIORef (MkRef m) = primIO (prim__readIORef m)
 
+||| Write a new value into an IORef.
+||| This function does not create a memory barrier and can be reordered with other independent reads and writes within a thread,
+||| which may cause issues for multithreaded execution.
 %inline
 export
 writeIORef : HasIO io => IORef a -> (val : a) -> io ()
 writeIORef (MkRef m) val = primIO (prim__writeIORef m val)
 
+||| Write a new value into an IORef.
+||| This function does not create a memory barrier and can be reordered with other independent reads and writes within a thread,
+||| which may cause issues for multithreaded execution.
 %inline
 export
 writeIORef1 : HasLinearIO io => IORef a -> (1 val : a) -> io ()
 writeIORef1 (MkRef m) val = primIO1 (prim__writeIORef m val)
 
+||| Mutate the contents of an IORef, combining readIORef and writeIORef.
+||| This is not an atomic update, consider using atomicModifyIORef when operating in a multithreaded environment.
 export
 modifyIORef : HasIO io => IORef a -> (a -> a) -> io ()
 modifyIORef ref f
     = do val <- readIORef ref
          writeIORef ref (f val)
 
+||| This function atomically modifies the contents of an IORef.
+||| This function is useful for using IORef in a safe way in a multithreaded program.
+||| If you only have one IORef, then using atomicModifyIORef to access and modify it will prevent race conditions.
+||| Any backend other than the default (chez) will perform modifyIORef (non-atomic).
 export
 atomicModifyIORef : HasIO io => IORef a -> (a -> a) -> io ()
 atomicModifyIORef ref f
@@ -53,4 +67,4 @@ atomicModifyIORef ref f
                      val   <- readIORef ref
                      ()    <- writeIORef ref (f val)
                      mutexRelease mutex
-        _      => pure ()
+        _      => modifyIORef ref f