Automation for clients

Stage 1 · Lesson 6 of 8

Webhooks

How automation works

A is a message an app sends to your web address the moment something happens, such as a payment going through or a form being submitted. Technically it is an sent to you. Webhooks are how work.

Your workflow gets its own unique URL. You paste that URL into the other app's settings. Each event then arrives as a JSON body.

Webhooks are faster and cheaper than , where your tool keeps asking "anything new?". But handle them with care. Reply quickly, expect the same event to arrive twice, and check the request really came from the sender. Before you build, use a tool like to see exactly what an app sends.

Common trapsharing a production webhook URL publicly, where anyone can post fake events to it.

A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 2 cheat sheet entries come with the full roadmap. Unlock

Resources for this stage

Start with· follow one of these

  • GuideFree
    MDN: HTTP

    Mozilla · Beginner

    Read the overview, methods, status codes and headers pages: the HTTP every automation tool sits on

  • GuideFree
    JavaScript.info

    Ilya Kantor

    The JSON methods and objects chapters teach you to read and reshape the data each step passes on

Practise

  • Call real APIs by hand, see status codes and headers, before you build anything around them

  • Get a throwaway URL and see exactly what an app sends in a webhook

Keep handy

  • A map of API concepts, from REST and auth to rate limiting, to check what you have not met yet

  • Clear chapters on OAuth flows and scopes for when "Connect your account" stops being magic

Also worth your time

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