You may not need to know anything about webhooks in two months when AI just does everything for you and you get to watch TV all day.
But until then, here are the quickest, most practical things you need to know about webhooks.
Lightning lesson, let’s go.
Webhooks explained in the simplest way possible
(No, this is not some new Zapier product)
Webhooks are like email addresses for apps.
It’s honestly that simple.
When you update a task in Notion, for example, you can send that task’s information to a webhook address.
Zapier gives you the ability to create as many of these webhook addresses as you want. They look like a public URL.
A webhook address is just a URL
Behind the scenes, webhooks are actually what power most of the integrations you use today.
But if an app doesn’t integrate with Zapier directly, they may just give you the ability to send stuff to a webhook address.
Voila, now that app can claim to integrate with Zapier and its 7,000+ other app integrations.
It’s a cheat code.
When to use a webhook
This is not an exhaustive list.
It’s a practical list. Here’s when I personally use webhooks.
When an app doesn’t integrate with Zapier directly.
When I was building my ridiculous AI White House Reporter I needed to go GET information from Congress and the Federal Register. Both provided webhook endpoints (fancy word for “addresses”) so that I could go ask them for information via a webhook.
Just like email, I can send a request out to an app (or API) and ask for them to send me something back.
Even if a Zapier integration exists for an app, sometimes they don’t have an action or trigger that you need.
But don’t fear.
Chances are you can use a webhook to create the action or trigger.
Webhooks are like the eggs of your Zapier kitchen. So versatile.
When I want to trigger a Zap by simply visiting a URL.
Sometimes you want to trigger a Zap manually.
Turns out you can just visit the Webhook address in any browser and that will trigger the Zap. You can even add stuff at the end of the URL in a special format (?[id]=[value]) to trigger a webhook with data (these are called URL parameters).
Like this: https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/4708236/2fam3hs/?name=Bryce
I click that link and boom my Zap triggers with a field called “name” and a value of “Bryce.”
Why would you want to do this?
You can use the URL if an app doesn’t integrate with Zapier OR even give you webhook functionality. Instead, you can create a button or a link that sends you to the URL address of the webhook. That does the trick.
You could literally have a Google Doc with a list of URLs with different parameters to send data to a Zap and just click each one when you’re ready.
When I want one Zap to trigger another Zap.
This use case was so common that Zapier made an app called Sub-Zaps that essentially does this for you.
Zaps talking to Zaps.
Instead of a sub-zap you could have one Zap that has a webhook step that sends data to second Zap.
Things get more complicated when you need to take action in another app through a webhook. In order to do that, you’d have to get the webhook to “login” for you in that other app.
Authentication is the most difficult and complicated part about integrations. Rightfully so. Security is super important!
To “login” with a webhook, you have to go read the API documentation of the app you’re trying to work with.
But I wouldn’t necessarily try to understand API documentation.
I’d take that bad boy and punch it into ChatGPT (or your favorite LLM) and ask it how in the world you need to set up the webhook in Zapier.
AI works great with context.
And if an app has robust documentation about its API to give AI context, you’re golden.
Wrapping it up
Webhooks are powerful when you need them and they aren’t that complicated.
I’ll let another post on the internet help explain things like POST, GET, PUT and other types of requests you can make.
As long as you understand the basic concept I’ve outlined today, then everything else will just fall into place.
To recap:
- Webhooks are like email addresses for apps
- Webhooks power most integrations behind the scenes
- Main use case: use webhooks when an app doesn’t integrate with Zapier
That’s all for this week!
Happy Building,
Bryce
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