Webhooks

What it is

GitHub’s docs describe webhooks as a way to subscribe to events in a software system and automatically receive data at your server whenever those events happen. That’s the alternative to polling an API on a schedule to see if anything changed. A webhook is usually an HTTP request sent to a URL you choose.

How it works

1. Register a URL with the sending service and choose which events to receive. Stripe recommends listening only to the event types your integration needs.
2. When an event happens, the service sends its details to that URL.
3. Your endpoint, or an automation hub, verifies the signature, quickly returns a success code and then runs the next steps.

Benefits

• Real-time reactions instead of scheduled polling.
• A natural trigger for onboarding, fulfilment and alerts.
• Reduces API usage.

Limits and risks

• Verify signatures. Without verification, anyone can send fake events. Stripe signs each request and requires the raw request body for verification.
• Expect duplicates. Stripe says endpoints may receive the same event more than once. Log the event IDs you’ve processed and skip repeats.
• Don’t rely on order. Stripe advises against using event timestamps to decide order.
• Plan for failure. Failed deliveries need retries and monitoring.