Webhook
An HTTP callback triggered by an event. Instead of polling for updates, the source system pushes a notification to your URL when something happens.
What is Webhook?
An HTTP callback triggered by an event. Instead of polling for updates, the source system pushes a notification to your URL when something happens.
Webhook is a intermediate-level concept that sits in the Messaging & Event Systems area of system design. Engineers reach for it whenever they need to reason about real-world trade-offs in that space — not just for textbook correctness, but because real production systems at companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google make these decisions every day.
If you want to go deeper than this definition — with diagrams, code, and a quiz to lock it in — work through the "Webhook" lesson linked below. It walks through the why, the mechanism, the trade-offs, and how the giants actually use it in production.
Learn Webhook in depth
Full interactive lesson with diagrams, code examples, real-world references, and a quiz.
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Lessons that touch on Webhook as part of a larger topic.
See also
Related glossary terms you might want to look up next.
Pub/Sub
A messaging pattern where publishers send messages to topics, and subscribers receive messages from topics they care about. Publishers don't know who's listening.
HTTP
The protocol powering the web. A request-response model where clients ask for resources and servers respond. Stateless by design.
Asynchronous
A communication model where the caller fires off a request and continues without waiting for a response. Essential for non-blocking I/O and event-driven systems.