Webhooks
Practical guides on sending, receiving, testing, and debugging webhooks — written for developers who want to get things working, not just understand the theory.
What you'll learn
The basics
What webhooks are, how they work under the hood, and how they compare to WebSockets and SSE.
Security & reliability
Signature verification, retry handling, idempotency, and how to build receivers that don't miss events.
Real integrations
Hands-on guides for Stripe and GitHub webhooks, plus how to build your own webhook delivery system.
Articles
What is a Webhook? (Explained Simply)
Webhooks sound fancier than they are. In plain terms: a webhook is just an HTTP POST request that someone else sends to your server when something happens. This guide breaks it down with real examples.
Webhook vs Polling: Which Should You Use?
Polling is the "are we there yet?" of API design. Webhooks flip the model around — instead of you asking for updates, the other side tells you when something happens. Here's how to pick the right approach.
How to Test Webhooks Locally
Your laptop isn't on the internet, so how does Stripe send a webhook to localhost:3000? This guide walks through the tools and tricks developers use to test webhooks during development.
How to Verify Webhook Signatures
Anyone can POST to your webhook endpoint — unless you verify the signature. This guide explains how HMAC-SHA256 signing works and how to implement it properly so you only process legitimate events.
Webhook Failures, Retries, and How to Handle Them
Webhooks fail silently. Your endpoint goes down, the delivery times out, or you return a 500 — and suddenly you've missed events. Here's how retry logic works and how to build a receiver that handles failures gracefully.
Stripe Webhooks: A Complete Integration Guide
Stripe's webhook system is one of the most well-designed in the industry — and still easy to get wrong. This guide covers registration, signature verification, idempotency, and the event types that actually matter.
How to Send Webhooks from Your Own App
Most guides cover receiving webhooks. This one covers the other side: how to build a webhook system that reliably delivers events from your app to your users' endpoints, with retries, signing, and failure tracking.
Debugging Webhooks: Why Isn't Mine Working?
Webhook not arriving? Signature check failing? Handler running twice? This is a practical debugging guide for the most common webhook problems, with specific fixes for each.
GitHub Webhooks: A Practical Guide
GitHub webhooks let you trigger your own systems whenever code is pushed, PRs are opened, or issues are created. This guide walks through setup, payload structure, and real automation use cases.
Webhook vs WebSocket vs Server-Sent Events
Three ways to push data without polling — but they solve completely different problems. Here's a clear decision framework and comparison table so you reach for the right tool the first time.