Webhook

A webhook is an HTTP-based mechanism that allows one system to automatically notify another system when a specific event occurs — sending data in real time rather than waiting for the receiving system to request it.

What Is a Webhook?

A webhook is a push notification for software systems. When an event occurs in one system — a deal closes in a CRM, a payment succeeds in a billing platform, a new user registers — the system sends an HTTP POST request containing event data to a URL you've registered. Your system receives the data and processes it immediately.

Webhooks are sometimes called "reverse APIs" because the data flows from the source system to your system, rather than your system requesting data from the source.

How Webhooks Work

1. You register a webhook endpoint URL with the source system (e.g., HubSpot, Stripe)

2. You define which events should trigger the webhook (e.g., "deal stage changed," "payment succeeded")

3. When the event occurs, the source system sends an HTTP POST request to your URL with the event data as JSON in the request body

4. Your system receives the request and processes the event

5. Your system returns an HTTP 200 response to confirm receipt

The critical detail: your endpoint must return a 200 response quickly (within 3–5 seconds). If it times out or returns an error, the source system will typically retry — sending the same webhook multiple times. Your processing logic must handle duplicate deliveries gracefully (idempotency).

Why Webhooks Matter for Enterprise Integration

Webhooks enable event-driven integration — your systems react to events as they happen rather than discovering them later through polling.

Without webhooks, a common alternative is polling: your system asks the source system "has anything changed?" on a schedule — every minute, every 5 minutes, every hour. Polling is wasteful (most polls return nothing), slow (events are discovered on the next poll cycle, not as they happen), and exhausts API rate limits.

With webhooks: when a deal closes in HubSpot, your provisioning system is notified within seconds and can begin the provisioning workflow immediately. No polling. No delay. No wasted API calls.

Webhooks at Dbugger

Dbugger builds webhook-based integrations for enterprise clients — including HubSpot deal event webhooks that trigger downstream provisioning, billing, and onboarding workflows. Our webhook implementations include signature verification, idempotency handling, dead-letter queuing for failed events, and delivery monitoring.

Related terms: REST API · WebSocket · Event-Driven Architecture · API Gateway · Idempotency