diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index ba82882e..49b6e7de 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-# pins (development version)
+# pins (development version to be released as 1.3.0)
+
+## Breaking changes
+
+* Changed the function signature of `pin_write()` so arguments like `type` and `title` must be passed by name and not position (#792).
 
 # pins 1.2.2
 
diff --git a/R/pin-read-write.R b/R/pin-read-write.R
index a7a8c887..a7405c13 100644
--- a/R/pin-read-write.R
+++ b/R/pin-read-write.R
@@ -71,15 +71,19 @@ pin_read <- function(board, name, version = NULL, hash = NULL, ...) {
 #' @export
 pin_write <- function(board, x,
                       name = NULL,
+                      ...,
                       type = NULL,
                       title = NULL,
                       description = NULL,
                       metadata = NULL,
                       versioned = NULL,
                       tags = NULL,
-                      ...,
                       force_identical_write = FALSE) {
   check_board(board, "pin_write", "pin")
+  dots <- list2(...)
+  if (!missing(...) && (is.null(names(dots)) || names(dots)[[1]] == "")) {
+    cli::cli_abort('Arguments after the dots `...` must be named, like {.code type = "json"}.')
+  }
 
   if (is.null(name)) {
     name <- enexpr(x)
diff --git a/man/pin_read.Rd b/man/pin_read.Rd
index aa15768c..fdc80697 100644
--- a/man/pin_read.Rd
+++ b/man/pin_read.Rd
@@ -11,13 +11,13 @@ pin_write(
   board,
   x,
   name = NULL,
+  ...,
   type = NULL,
   title = NULL,
   description = NULL,
   metadata = NULL,
   versioned = NULL,
   tags = NULL,
-  ...,
   force_identical_write = FALSE
 )
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/pin-read-write.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/pin-read-write.md
index fad76a59..dc94ca7a 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/pin-read-write.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/pin-read-write.md
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@
     Condition
       Error in `pin_write()`:
       ! `name` must be a string
+    Code
+      pin_write(board, mtcars, name = "mtcars", "json")
+    Condition
+      Error in `pin_write()`:
+      ! Arguments after the dots `...` must be named, like `type = "json"`.
     Code
       pin_write(board, mtcars, name = "mtcars", type = "froopy-loops")
     Condition
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-pin-read-write.R b/tests/testthat/test-pin-read-write.R
index 593532d5..0ba84050 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-pin-read-write.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-pin-read-write.R
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ test_that("useful errors on bad inputs", {
   expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, {
     pin_write(mtcars)
     pin_write(board, mtcars, name = 1:10)
+    pin_write(board, mtcars, name = "mtcars", "json")
     pin_write(board, mtcars, name = "mtcars", type = "froopy-loops")
     pin_write(board, mtcars, name = "mtcars", metadata = 1)
   })
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ test_that("pin_write() noisily generates name and type", {
 test_that("user can supply metadata", {
   board <- board_temp()
 
-  pin_write(board, 1:10, "x", metadata = list(name = "Susan"), desc = "A vector")
+  pin_write(board, 1:10, "x", metadata = list(name = "Susan"), description = "A vector")
   meta <- pin_meta(board, "x")
   expect_equal(meta$user, list(name = "Susan"))
   expect_equal(meta$description, "A vector")