Console

The Hookdeck Console captures HTTP requests at a URL you can hand to any service, so you can read exactly what it sent. It needs no account.

Use it to:

  • Inspect a payload before you write code against it, including the method, headers, path, query string, and body.
  • Send a sample event from the Webhooks Library instead of triggering a real one, so you don't have to send yourself an SMS to see a message.received.
  • Forward requests to localhost with the Hookdeck CLI, or to any HTTP endpoint, and read the response your handler returned.
  • Replay a captured request while you iterate, instead of waiting for the provider to send another.
  • Share the URL with a colleague so you can both watch the same requests arrive.
  • Create and read sources programmatically with the Console API, so an integration test can spin up a test URL, send to it, and assert on what arrived.

Sources

A source represents a service that sends HTTP requests to Hookdeck. You create one in the Console, and it gives you a URL to hand to whatever is sending the requests.

Create as many as you need and switch between them from the source picker: one per provider you're testing, or one per integration you're building. There's no setup and no signup.

Each source has two URLs:

  • The ingest URL (console.hookdeck.com/e/<id>) receives requests. Give this one to the service sending them.
  • The inspect URL (console.hookdeck.com/<id>) is where you read them.

Because a Console source is free to create and needs no account, its ingest URL is most often used as a test URL: somewhere to point a provider while you're still working out what it sends, or to hand to a colleague so you can both watch the same requests arrive.

Quickstart

  1. Open console.hookdeck.com/new. A source is created and opened for you.

  2. Choose Copy URL at the top of the page to copy its ingest URL.

  3. Send it a request:

    curl -X POST "https://console.hookdeck.com/e/<your-id>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"hello":"world"}'

  4. The request appears in the events list. Select it to read the headers, body, path, and query string.

From there you can send a sample provider payload instead of writing your own, or add a destination to forward captured requests to a URL or to your localhost.

Creating sources with the API

Sources can be created and read with the Console API, over plain HTTP with no account and no API key. One POST returns a new source and both of its URLs:

curl -sS -X POST "https://console.hookdeck.com/"

That makes a test URL something you can spin up inside an integration test, send a request to, and then read back to assert on what arrived. You can also pin a Source Type at creation, and inspect captured requests as JSON.

See the Console API reference for the full contract.

Source retention and Hookdeck accounts

Without an account, the Console remembers your sources in the browser you created them in, for up to 90 days. Choosing Save Data creates a free Hookdeck account and keeps them beyond that, across sessions and devices.

See source retention for what carries over.

Next -> Sources