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	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:12:49.98884Z",
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	"title": "What is a webhook?",
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	"plain_text": "What is a webhook?\r\nArchived: 2026-04-05 23:40:18 UTC\r\nUpdated February 1, 2024•8-minute read\r\nWhat is a webhook?\r\nA webhook is a lightweight, event-driven communication that automatically sends data between applications via\r\nHTTP. Triggered by specific events, webhooks automate communication between application programming\r\ninterfaces (APIs) and can be used to activate workflows, such as in GitOps environments.\r\nBecause webhooks can connect event sources to automation solutions, they are 1 way to launch event-driven\r\nautomation to perform IT actions when a specified event occurs.\r\nWebhooks for application development\r\nWhat is an API?\r\nAn API is a set of definitions and protocols for building and integrating application software. Communication\r\nbetween APIs is sometimes referred to as a contract between an information user and an information provider—\r\nestablishing the content required from the consumer (the call) and the content required by the producer (the\r\nresponse). This relationship is also described as the client app which calls the server app, but these roles can be\r\nreversed, depending on which app is requesting data in a given situation.  \r\nWeb APIs typically use HTTP to request data from other apps and define the structure of response messages,\r\nwhich usually take the form of an XML or JSON file. Both XML and JSON are preferred formats because they\r\npresent data in a way that’s easy for other apps to manipulate. \r\nWhen a client API requests data from a server API, it’s calling to see if a certain event has occurred—in other\r\nwords, whether the server’s data has changed in a way that might be useful to the client. In this process (known as\r\npolling), the client sends an HTTP request at regular intervals until the server’s API sends the relevant data, which\r\nis sometimes called the payload. \r\nThe client app doesn’t know the state of the server app, so it polls the server’s API for an update—calling over and\r\nover until the specific event occurs—but the server will only send the requested data once that information is\r\navailable. The client app has to keep asking for the update and wait until the relevant event happens.\r\nRead about best practices of successful API teams \r\nHow are Webhooks different?\r\nTo set up a webhook, the client gives a unique URL to the server API and specifies which event it wants to know\r\nabout. Once the webhook is set up, the client no longer needs to poll the server; the server will automatically send\r\nhttps://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook\r\nPage 1 of 5\n\nthe relevant payload to the client’s webhook URL when the specified event occurs. \r\nWebhooks are often referred to as reverse APIs or push APIs, because they put the responsibility of\r\ncommunication on the server, rather than the client. Instead of the client sending HTTP requests—asking for data\r\nuntil the server responds—the server sends the client a single HTTP POST request as soon as the data is available.\r\nDespite their nicknames, webhooks are not APIs; they work together. An application must have an API to use a\r\nwebhook. \r\nThe name webhook is a simple combination of web, referring to its HTTP-based communication, and the hooking\r\nprogramming function that allows apps to intercept calls or other events that might be of interest. Webhooks hook\r\nthe event that occurs on the server app, and prompt the server to send the payload to the client via the web. Jeff\r\nLindsay helped to popularize the concept with his 2007 blog post, “Web hooks to revolutionize the web.”\r\nIT teams use a variety of methods to protect apps that communicate via webhooks. Most webhook-enabled apps\r\nadd a secret key to the request header of the payload, so that the client can confirm the server’s identity. Webhooks\r\nare often protected with Mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS) authentication, which verifies both client and\r\nserver before the payload is sent. It is also common for client apps to use SSL encryption for the webhook URL, to\r\nensure the transferred data remains private.\r\nWebhooks: \r\nEliminate the need for polling. This saves resources for the client application.\r\nAre quick to set up. If an app supports webhooks, they are easy to set up through the server app’s user\r\ninterface. This is where the client enters their app’s webhook URL and sets some basic parameters, like\r\nwhich event they are interested in. \r\nAutomate data transfer. The payload is sent as soon as the specified event happens on the server app.\r\nThis exchange is initiated by the event, so it happens as quickly as the data can be transferred from server\r\nto client—as real-time as any data transfer can be.\r\nAre good for lightweight, specific payloads. Webhooks rely on the server to determine the amount of data\r\nit sends, leaving it to the client to interpret the payload and use it in a productive way. Since the client does\r\nnot control the exact timing or size of the data transfer, webhooks deal with small amounts of information\r\nbetween 2 endpoints, often in the form of a notification.\r\nWebhooks for infrastructure automation\r\nWebhooks are most commonly used to simplify communication between two applications, but they can also be\r\nused to automate Infrastructure-as-code (IaC) workflows and enable GitOps practices.\r\nWhat is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)? \r\nInfrastructure as Code (IaC) is the managing and provisioning of infrastructure through code instead of manual\r\nprocesses. Version control is an important part of IaC, and configuration files should be under source control just\r\nlike any other software source code file. Deploying infrastructure as code also means that infrastructure can be\r\ndivided into modular components that can then be combined in different ways through automation.\r\nhttps://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook\r\nPage 2 of 5\n\nAutomating infrastructure provisioning with IaC means that developers don’t need to manually provision and\r\nmanage servers, operating systems, storage, and other infrastructure components each time they develop or deploy\r\nan application. Codifying infrastructure provides a template to follow for provisioning. This can still be\r\naccomplished manually, but these processes can be automated with an enterprise-level desired state engine, such\r\nas Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform.\r\nWhat is GitOps?\r\nOften considered an evolution of IaC, GitOps is a strategic approach to managing infrastructure and application\r\nconfigurations using Git, an open source version control system. Following GitOps practices, developers use Git\r\nas a single source of truth for declarative infrastructure and applications, and use Git pull requests to automatically\r\nmanage infrastructure provisioning and deployment. The Git repository contains the entire state of the system so\r\nthat the record of changes is visible and auditable. \r\nWhere do webhooks come into it?\r\nWebhooks reduce the steps required to implement and manage git-centric deployment pipelines, and can be used\r\nto automatically launch entire IaC workflows. In a GitOps environment—with a git repository as the source of\r\ntruth—a webhook functions the same as it does between 2 applications; when triggered by a specified event, 1\r\nAPI sends a payload to another API. The difference lies in what type of event triggers the webhook and what the\r\nrecipient does with the payload.\r\nIn this context, the git repository plays the role of the server app, while the desired state engine—which manages\r\nthe state of infrastructure—plays the role of the client app. Webhooks can be used to notify the desired state\r\nengine every time a change is made in the git repository. If a piece of code is updated and pushed to the repository,\r\nthis event will trigger the webhook. The repository then automatically sends the payload to the desired state\r\nengine’s webhook address, informing it of the code change.\r\nIf the desired state engine supports automation, these webhooks can also launch IaC workflows—turning a code\r\nchange into automated action. For example, system administrators can set up automation that runs whenever a\r\nwebhook’s payload is received, to automatically apply new code changes on their managed hosts and restore them\r\nto a default state. This method of using webhooks to trigger automation can be extended to perform other IT\r\nactions without human involvement, enabling a process known as event-driven automation.\r\nThe only difference is the source of truth; instead of connecting a desired state engine to a git repository—which\r\nrelies on humans to push code updates—a webhook can connect it to a third-party tool that monitors a source for\r\nspecific events. Once these event sources detect a targeted event and fire the webhook, the payload can launch\r\nautomation that takes immediate action to resolve the event at any time of day, without requiring IT staff to press a\r\nsingle button.\r\nLearn how Ansible Automation Platform uses webhooks for GitOps\r\nWebhooks for event-driven automation\r\nhttps://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook\r\nPage 3 of 5\n\nEvent-driven automation is the process of responding automatically to changing conditions in an IT environment,\r\nto help resolve issues faster and reduce routine, repetitive tasks. With event-driven automation, IT teams can\r\ncodify responses to any event—like hardware issues, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, memory\r\nshortages, or application failures—so that the necessary action is automatically executed when the event occurs.\r\nEvent-driven solutions rely on third-party tools or plugins—like ServiceNow, Kafka, Prometheus, Sensu,\r\nDynatrace, and Appdynamics—to monitor a source for events. Webhooks can be used to connect these event\r\nsources with an automation platform, so that when a source detects an event, the webhook triggers the appropriate\r\nautomated response.\r\nIT teams can adopt event-driven automation incrementally to reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR) and\r\nperform functions that still require human involvement—like automatically creating a ticket—and gradually work\r\ntowards fully automatic remediation, so that the appropriate action is automatically taken when a particular issue\r\noccurs.\r\nHow can Red Hat help?\r\nRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform is an end-to-end automation platform designed to help IT teams create,\r\nmanage, and scale automation across the entire enterprise. You can use webhooks to integrate Ansible Automation\r\nPlatform with a Git repository—via a service like GitHub or GitLab—to support IaC and GitOps practices. Once a\r\nrepo link is set up, Ansible Automation Platform catches Git commits from the Git system and uses those events to\r\ntrigger automation jobs to update projects, manage inventories, and perform deployments.\r\nWebhooks allow you to automatically activate automation when events occur in your source control system. This\r\neliminates the need for additional CI/CD tools—like Jenkins—to monitor repositories and launch automation jobs\r\nwhen changes occur, simplifying your GitOps workflow and streamlining operations. Because Ansible\r\nAutomation Platform works with a wide variety of development and deployment tools, you can tailor your GitOps\r\nworkflow to your preferred tools and processes.\r\nMission-critical automation with Event-Driven Ansible \r\nAs a part of Ansible Automation Platform, Event-Driven Ansible provides the event-handling capability needed to\r\nautomate time-consuming tasks and respond to changing conditions in any IT domain. It can process events\r\ncontaining discrete intelligence about conditions in the IT environment, determine the appropriate response to the\r\nevent, then execute automated actions to address or remediate the event.\r\nEvent-Driven Ansible can be used to automate IT service management tasks—such as ticket enhancement,\r\nremediation, and user management—and a variety of other IT processes. It connects sources of events with\r\ncorresponding actions via rules. Ansible Rulebooks define the event source and explain—in the form of\r\nconditional “if-this-then-that” instructions—the action to take when the event occurs. Based on the rulebook you\r\ndesign, Event-Driven Ansible recognizes the specified event, matches it with the appropriate action, and\r\nautomatically executes it.\r\nYou can use fully-supported generic webhooks to connect Event-Driven Ansible to event sources, but Event-Driven Ansible also offers an ecosystem library of source plugins built by partners for their specific technology.\r\nhttps://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook\r\nPage 4 of 5\n\nThese fully supported plugins allow you to build event-driven automation without having to write code or\r\nprogram webhooks for every new event. You just need to know which event you’re interested in and what action\r\nyou want to happen—then write these instructions into an Ansible Rulebook, which enables any event to\r\nautomatically execute any preexisting Ansible Playbook or automation workflow you desire.\r\nLearn more about Event-Driven Ansible\r\nHear from an expert\r\nKeep reading\r\nWhat is patch management?\r\nPatch management is the process of identifying, testing, and installing system updates to improve security and\r\nperformance in operating systems and applications.\r\nWhy choose Red Hat for automation?\r\nRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform includes all the tools needed to share automation across teams and\r\nimplement enterprise-wide automation.\r\nWhat is an Ansible Playbook?\r\nAn Ansible Playbook is a blueprint of automation tasks executed on hosts.\r\nAutomation and management resources\r\nSource: https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook\r\nhttps://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook\r\nPage 5 of 5",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"MITRE"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/automation/what-is-a-webhook"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"what-is-a-webhook"
	],
	"threat_actors": [],
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	"ts_updated_at": 1775791325,
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