What is Webhooks
A webhook is a way for one system (or app) to automatically send real-time data to another system when something happens. It’s kind of like telling your system: “Hey, if X happens, send the details to this URL right away.”
When you set up a webhook, you provide a URL (usually from your own system or server) where the other service should send the data. You’re not pushing anything; you’re asking another system (like Shopify, Stripe, etc.) to push the data to you when the event happens (like a new order, or an updated product). It’s like getting a push notification instead of constantly refreshing a page to check for updates.
Examples
| Triggering event (in another app) | What your webhook URL receives |
| A customer places an order in your Shopify store | Shopify sends order details (customer info, products, total) to your webhook URL |
| Someone fills out a form on your website | Your form platform sends the form submission data to your webhook URL |
| A product is updated in your inventory system | That system sends the updated product data (name, SKU, stock) to your webhook |
A brief history
Before webhooks, if one system needed data from another, the most common method was polling. That means sending repeated API requests like: “Hey, any updates yet?” This approach works, but it’s inefficient.
Systems needed to talk to each other more instantly, and webhooks were the solution. Instead of repeatedly asking for new data, you could register a URL with another service and have it send the data to you automatically when something important happens.
These days, webhooks are the standard for event-based automation. However, some platforms still use polling, messaging queues (like Kafka or RabbitMQ), or serverless functions as alternatives depending on the use case.
Good to know
It’s important to always verify webhook requests (by using secret tokens or HMAC signatures) to make sure they’re coming from a trusted source.
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