What Is a Webhook?

A webhook is a way for one software application to send real-time data to another application the instant a specific event occurs. Think of it as a doorbell for your software: instead of constantly checking whether something has happened, the system rings the bell and delivers the information to you automatically. When a new order is placed on Shopify, Shopify can instantly send that order data to Make.com, QuickBooks, or any other connected system through a webhook, without anyone asking for it.

To understand why webhooks matter, it helps to contrast them with the alternative: APIs. With a traditional API approach, your automation has to repeatedly ask the source system, "Do you have any new data for me?" This is called polling, and it is like calling a restaurant every five minutes to ask if your table is ready. Webhooks flip the model. Instead of asking, you give the restaurant your phone number and they call you the moment the table opens up. The result is faster, more efficient, and uses fewer resources.

Technically, a webhook works by sending an HTTP POST request to a specific URL (called the webhook URL or endpoint) whenever the triggering event occurs. The request contains a payload, which is the actual data being sent, typically formatted as JSON. For example, when a Shopify order is placed, the webhook payload includes the customer name, shipping address, line items, prices, and every other detail about that order. The receiving system parses this payload and uses the data to execute the next steps in the automation.

We configure webhooks across all of your connected platforms to ensure real-time data flow throughout your entire operation. Whether it is Shopify sending order data, QuickBooks notifying us of a new invoice, or ShipStation confirming a shipment, we set up each webhook with proper security verification, error handling, and retry logic. Webhooks are the backbone of what makes our automations instant rather than delayed, so we treat their configuration as a critical part of every deployment.

Our team handles all the technical details that most businesses would struggle with on their own: registering webhook endpoints, parsing JSON payloads, mapping data fields between systems, handling edge cases where payloads arrive in unexpected formats, and building fallback mechanisms for the rare cases when a webhook delivery fails. We also monitor webhook health continuously, so if a platform changes its webhook format or a connection drops, we catch it and fix it before it affects your operations.

The result is that your business tools communicate with each other in real time, automatically, with zero manual intervention. Orders flow from your storefront to your accounting system to your warehouse in seconds, not hours. To see webhooks in action within a complete business process, explore our integrations page or learn how we build full trigger-action workflows for our clients.