node.js - How does one create a webhook for a personal project? (JavaScript, Node) - Stack Overflow

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I recently learned about webhooks and am trying to implement one for a full-stack app that I'm building. However, I haven't been able to find information on how to create my own webhook. This is how my app is expected to work:

My client side is a website built with React, and when it loads, it will make a GET request to my server (built with Node and Express). The response will provide data that will be displayed on the website. The user will click a button on the website, which will send a (POST? GET?) request to my server, which will make its own POST request to send some of the data to an external API. When that external API data pletes work on the data, it will send a POST request to my webhook URL (which I assume is part of my server), and the data from the external API needs to be sent to the client, which will display it alongside the original data. Additionally, when work on the first batch of data is pleted, my server sends another POST request (with some more of the original data) to the external API, which will then make a POST request to my webhook/server with new data that then gets passed to the client again, and this repeats until all the original data from my server has been passed to and processed by the external API, and the all the processed data gets sent to my server and then to the client.

From my understanding, the webhook will allow my client to make a single request to my server, and then, my server can make multiple response to my client: one response for each POST request received from the external API. However, I have not been able to find information on how to create a webhook. Everything that I have found has been about how to use webhooks with pre-existing apps/websites like Dischord or GitHub or Stripe. Or using 3rd-party services to use their webhooks to connect pre-existing app/websites.

How do I go about making a webhook for my little project that will update my website every time that my server receives a POST request from the external API? Or am I misunderstanding how a webhook works? Can they only be created by 3rd-party services and/or only used on pre-existing apps?

I recently learned about webhooks and am trying to implement one for a full-stack app that I'm building. However, I haven't been able to find information on how to create my own webhook. This is how my app is expected to work:

My client side is a website built with React, and when it loads, it will make a GET request to my server (built with Node and Express). The response will provide data that will be displayed on the website. The user will click a button on the website, which will send a (POST? GET?) request to my server, which will make its own POST request to send some of the data to an external API. When that external API data pletes work on the data, it will send a POST request to my webhook URL (which I assume is part of my server), and the data from the external API needs to be sent to the client, which will display it alongside the original data. Additionally, when work on the first batch of data is pleted, my server sends another POST request (with some more of the original data) to the external API, which will then make a POST request to my webhook/server with new data that then gets passed to the client again, and this repeats until all the original data from my server has been passed to and processed by the external API, and the all the processed data gets sent to my server and then to the client.

From my understanding, the webhook will allow my client to make a single request to my server, and then, my server can make multiple response to my client: one response for each POST request received from the external API. However, I have not been able to find information on how to create a webhook. Everything that I have found has been about how to use webhooks with pre-existing apps/websites like Dischord or GitHub or Stripe. Or using 3rd-party services to use their webhooks to connect pre-existing app/websites.

How do I go about making a webhook for my little project that will update my website every time that my server receives a POST request from the external API? Or am I misunderstanding how a webhook works? Can they only be created by 3rd-party services and/or only used on pre-existing apps?

• javascript
• node.js
• webhooks

Share Improve this question Follow asked Sep 12, 2021 at 5:12 Franco OrtegaFranco Ortega 2922 silver badges88 bronze badges 1

• Please provide enough code so others can better understand or reproduce the problem. – Community Bot Commented Sep 18, 2021 at 11:17

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3 Answers 3

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AFAIK, webhooks are just normal web APIs. Properties that make an API a webhook:

• The client sending requests to your server, in this case, is another server
• This client will send you a request when there's a triggered event

In your case, your server POSTing data to the external API. What makes webhook different is that the external API's server doesn't have to respond right away, instead, it sends back you, for example, an HTTP 200 OK to acknowledge that it received the request and has started to process the data. When the external API's server finishes processing the data (which is an event), it will call your server's endpoint to inform you about the process along with the processed data (if succeeded).

Your server, correspondingly, will then have to inform your client (the user) about the processed data. I would suggest implementing some kinds of persistent connection (WebSocket or SSE), or simply just make the client poll request every some second.

For a simple use case, it just means another endpoint on your server that will receive a request from the external API when it's done with the task. It's a mon way REST APIs work to let you know they are done with something, or municate anything back to you in general. You have one endpoint that will receive a request from the React client, and send information off to the external API (as you said), and another endpoint (this "webhook") that will receive requests from the external API. That's it.

You described the client-server munications for this problem just fine with the exception that the server cannot send requests to the client over HTTP. If the client needs anything from the server, it needs to send a request and ask for it. A mon way to do for this would be to store the information on the server once the external API hits your "webhook", and the client can ask the server if the data is back every X seconds (long-polling).

Example (payment flow):

Client -> Server: Heres my credit card number
Server -> Client: Thanks! Let me process that.

Server -> External API: Please process this credit card for the amount of $X and ping me at this webhook when you're done.
External API -> Server: OK, will let you know when I'm done.

Client -> Server: You done yet?
Server -> Client: Nope!

External API -> Server (to webhook): Hey, I'm done, here's the receipt.
Server -> External API: Thanks!

Client -> Server: You done yet?
Server -> Client: Yes! Here's your receipt.

More advanced ways to solve the problem would be using a long-lived bidirectional munication protocol such as websockets. And as others have mentioned, all of the endpoints don't have to be on the same server. You can have one server for each endpoint, and you can have turn them on only when they get a request and then go back to sleep (that's a Lambda). Pros and cons to this approach. That's more advanced stuff and if you're just learning I wouldn't really worry about it now.

"(which I assume is part of my server)"-- The webhook is part of the third party API that points back to either your server or maybe some serverless function/lambda(that you set up) that in turn can parse and perform putations on the data and then send it back to your server.

It really depends on the use case and architecture of your API. If you don't want your main API server to get overloaded, if say you need to perform heavy I/O, CPU/GPU processing, you could create Serverless Lambda Functions to handle this data processing and be the endpoint you supply to the third party's webhook post endpoint.

If you're not concerned with it, you could just create another endpoint in your server to handle this webhook.

Just keep in mind, when you're trying to scale up, you want your systems to be as distributed as possible-- within reason-- so your API can handle more requests and not be overloaded with a bunch of processes.

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