webhook
Webhook (noun) means an arrangement in which one online service automatically sends a message to a web address you have given it whenever a particular event happens, so your own system finds out immediately instead of having to keep asking. Example: “Set up a webhook so we get told the moment a payment clears.”
How to Use Webhook
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA way for one website to tell yours the moment something happens.
Technical; standard wording in developer documentation.
Think of it as leaving your phone number with a shop: rather than ringing every hour to ask whether the order has arrived, you get a call when it does.
Trace the full origin ↓Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
Set up a _____ so we get told the moment a payment clears.
Etymology
A compound of web and hook, in the programming sense of a hook as a place where extra behaviour can be attached.
Synonyms
View more →Antonyms
Related Words
Rhymes for webhook
See all rhymes for webhook →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a webhook and an API?
Both move data between systems, but the direction of the first move differs. With an ordinary API call your program asks and the service answers. With a webhook the service contacts your program without being asked, because an event occurred. Webhooks are often described as part of a service's API.
What is the difference between a webhook and polling?
Polling means repeatedly asking a service whether anything has changed, which wastes requests and adds delay. A webhook removes the asking: the message arrives when the event happens.
Do webhooks need to be secured?
Yes. Because a webhook address is contacted from outside, receiving systems normally verify that a message genuinely came from the expected sender, commonly by checking a signature the sender includes.