How to Test Webhooks Before Your Endpoint Exists

A webhook is a reverse API. Instead of you polling a service to ask if anything changed, the service calls your URL with an HTTP request the moment an event happens, such as when an order is placed or a payment succeeds.

The problem: you cannot see what you cannot receive

To build or debug a webhook you need to see the exact request a provider sends, including its method, headers and body. That is hard before your own endpoint even exists, because there is nowhere for the provider to deliver the request and nothing to record it.

The fix: a capture URL

A capture URL, sometimes called a request bin, solves this. You point the provider at a temporary URL and then inspect every request it receives. Once you know the shape of the traffic, you can build your real endpoint with confidence. Focus on:

• The HTTP method the provider uses, usually POST but not always
• The headers, especially content-type and any signature headers
• The raw body or payload, exactly as it arrives on the wire
• The query string appended to the URL
• How often retries arrive when a delivery is not acknowledged

Our free Webhook Tester gives you a disposable capture URL and shows every incoming request live, so you can see exactly what a system sends.