Inspect

Hookdeck Inspect gives you a webhook test URL, called a Source URL, that you can hand to any service, so you can read exactly what it sent. It needs no account.

Use it to:

  • Read a payload before you write code against it: its headers and its exact body.
  • Send a test webhook from the Webhook 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.
  • Retry 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 Source URLs and wait for requests over HTTP with the Inspect API, so a test or an AI agent can create a URL, send to it, and read what arrived.

Source URLs

A Source URL is where webhooks go, and each one has its own page where you read them:

  • The Source URL (inspect.hookdeck.com/e/<id>) receives requests. Give it to the service sending them.
  • Its page (inspect.hookdeck.com/<id>) is where you read them.

Create as many as you need and switch between them from the sidebar: one per provider you're testing, or one per integration you're building.

Quickstart

  1. Open inspect.hookdeck.com. A Source URL is created for you and shown under Paste to webhook provider.

  2. Copy it with the copy button beside it.

  3. Send it a request:

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

  4. The page switches to the request list and opens the request, with its headers and body.

From there you can send a test webhook instead of writing your own, or forward requests to a URL or to your localhost.

Testing a specific platform? Open its page, such as inspect.hookdeck.com/webhooks/stripe. It sets up a Source URL of that type and shows that platform's sample webhooks.

Creating Source URLs with the API

Source URLs can be created and read with the Inspect API, over plain HTTP with no account and no API key. One POST returns a new one:

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

The reply has the Source URL as ingest_url, its page as inspect_url, and a requests_url. A GET to requests_url waits up to 25 seconds for the next request and returns it as JSON, so there's no need to poll. That makes a test URL something a test or an AI agent can create, send to, and read back.

To set a Source Type, send it as JSON: -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"type":"STRIPE"}'.

See the Inspect API reference for the full contract.

Using Inspect with AI agents

An agent can do everything above with plain HTTP calls. To teach yours how, install the Inspect skill:

npx skills add hookdeck/agent-skills --skill inspect

In the app, Get started with your agent on the home page copies a prompt that hands your agent a Source URL to work with, and Share with agent copies the open request for your agent to read, with sensitive headers removed. Agents can also read inspect.hookdeck.com/llms.txt.

Retention and Hookdeck accounts

Without an account, your Source URLs are kept together by your browser's session, which lasts 90 days. Captured requests are kept for 3 days.

Choosing Save Data creates a free Hookdeck account. Your Source URLs carry over with their requests, and you can reach them from any device.

See retention and Hookdeck accounts for details.

Next -> Source URLs