WebHook
On this page
WebHook formal specification web standard.
Definition
The 'WebHook spec' designates a set of formalised best practices (Standard Webhooks, IETF draft-hooks, Discord conventions) covering: HMAC SHA-256 payload signature, X-Webhook-Signature and X-Webhook-Timestamp headers, exponential backoff retries, idempotency key, 2xx ack response, dead letter queue after N failures.
Origin
The term 'webhook' was coined by Jeff Lindsay (2007). Standard Webhooks initiative led by Svix since 2022 to normalise the format.
Example in context
POST /webhook with header X-Webhook-Signature: t=1715693400,v1=abc123... payload {event: 'invoice.created'}. Receiver verifies HMAC with shared secret.
Related terms
- WebHook bridge — EDI integration pattern.