Webhook

A webhook is an HTTP POST request sent by one system to another in real time when something happens — a customer signs up, a payment succeeds, a support ticket arrives, a deal closes. Webhooks are the foundational primitive that makes event-driven workflow automation possible.

How they work:

1. The source system (e.g., Stripe) has events you can subscribe to (e.g., payment_succeeded).
2. You give Stripe a URL on your system (e.g., https://yoursite.com/webhooks/stripe).
3. When the event fires, Stripe sends an HTTP POST to that URL with event data.
4. Your system receives + processes the event.

Webhooks are how most real-time automation works. Without them, you'd need to poll source systems on a schedule — slower, more expensive, and inconsistent.

Production webhook implementation requires:

• Signature verification. Confirm the request actually came from the source system (not a spoof).
• Idempotency. Handle the case where the same webhook arrives twice.
• Retry logic. Webhook deliveries fail sometimes; the source system retries.
• Error handling. Webhooks must return 2xx fast (within 30 sec usually) or get retried.

In AI automation, webhooks are the typical trigger for agent workflows. The agent loop starts when a webhook arrives — a new lead, a customer message, a billing event.