Debugging Webhooks Without Losing Your Mind
Webhooks are asynchronous, external, and stateless. When something goes wrong — and it will — you're usually staring at a blank screen wondering what the sending service actually sent.
Webhooks are notoriously hard to debug. A webhook inspector captures every request in real time so you can see exactly what's being sent, when, and why it's failing.
Why webhooks are hard to debug
1. They're push-based. You can't replay a request from your end without the original sender cooperating. 2. The payload is ephemeral. Most services don't store sent webhook payloads. 3. Your local environment isn't reachable. Stripe can't reach `localhost:3000`.
Capture everything with a webhook inspector
With AlertsDock WebhookRelay: 1. Create an endpoint — you get a URL like `https://hooks.alertsdock.com/wh/{slug}` 2. Point your external service to this URL 3. Configure forwarding to your real server 4. Every request is stored for inspection
Inspecting headers, not just bodies
Webhook signatures live in headers. `Stripe-Signature`, `X-GitHub-Event`, `X-Hub-Signature-256` — these are what your server validates to confirm legitimacy.
Replay for testing
Found a bug in your webhook handler? Fix it, deploy, then replay the original webhook — you don't need to trigger the event from the external service again.
Local development with tunnels
AlertsDock Team plan includes local tunnel support: ```bash alertsdock tunnel --port 3000 ``` You get a stable public URL that forwards to your local server.
Feature Guide
Webhook Monitoring
Inspect incoming webhooks, replay payloads, debug headers, and reduce integration blind spots with AlertsDock webhook monitoring.
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Better Stack Alternative
Compare AlertsDock with Better Stack for teams that want a more focused monitoring product covering uptime, cron jobs, status pages, and webhooks.
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