What are Webhooks?

A webhook is an HTTP callback in which one system notifies another that something has happened. Instead of the receiver polling for changes, the source system pushes a small message to a registered URL when an event occurs, such as a new order, a stock update, or a content publish.

Definition

A webhook delivery typically contains an event type, a timestamp, a payload describing the changed entity, and a signature for authentication. The receiver acknowledges the message with an HTTP success code and processes it asynchronously. Reliable producers retry on failure, deduplicate by event id, and provide a dashboard for delivery history and replay.

Why it matters

Webhooks are the connective tissue of composable commerce. They let independent services react to changes without polling, which keeps systems in sync and reduces latency between events and downstream actions. When inventory drops to zero in the OMS, a webhook can trigger reindexing in search, page revalidation in the storefront, and notifications in the marketing tool within seconds.

Operational considerations

Webhook consumers need to be idempotent, since retries can produce duplicate deliveries. They should verify signatures to prevent spoofed requests and handle backpressure when bursts of events arrive. In a frontend management platform, webhooks often drive cache invalidation, static regeneration, and downstream notifications, so monitoring webhook health is a critical part of operations.

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