Webhooks Glossary

Webhook and event terms have many overlapping synonyms (e.g. provider / source / publisher / sender). This glossary is meant to standardize wording so our docs, blog, and product UI stay consistent. This way you can quickly map your mental model and how Hookdeck fits and its role in your architecture.


Actors & Core Concepts

Defines the core roles and nouns in a webhook system: who emits, who receives, what URL is hit, and the edge entry point. This matters because a shared vocabulary makes responsibilities clear, keeps implementations consistent, and speeds debugging.

Endpoint

PropertyDescription
DefinitionHTTP URL that receives webhooks. Example: /webhooks/stripe (POST).
Why it mattersDetermines auth, timeout, concurrency, and routing targets.
HookdeckAfter consuming a webhook on your behalf, Hookdeck delivers the event to your endpoint. Learn more
Also calledlistener, callback URL, webhook URL, destination URL, target URL, receiver URL, notification URL, callback endpoint, hook URL, push URL, event URL, subscriber URL, consumer endpoint, ingestion endpoint, reception point

Related terms: Forwarding · Signature (HMAC)

Webhook body

PropertyDescription
DefinitionThe HTTP request payload containing the event data, usually in JSON format.
Why it mattersThe body holds the actual business event (e.g., invoice.paid, user.created) that your app consumes. Parsing and validating it correctly is essential for correctness and security.
HookdeckHookdeck stores the raw body, exposes it in logs, and forwards it unchanged to your app unless transformations are applied.
Also calledpayload, message body, event payload, data body, webhook payload

Related terms: Webhook header · Webhook event · Schema drift


Webhook consumer

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSystem that receives/processes webhooks.
Why it mattersOwns retries, idempotency, and downstream effects.
HookdeckHookdeck acts as the public-facing consumer; your app is the downstream destination. Use Hookdeck's URL instead of your endpoint.
Also calleddestination, subscriber, receiver, listener, target system, recipient, handler, processor, event consumer, webhook receiver, ingestion system, sink, destination system

Related terms: Endpoint · Retry · Idempotency

Webhook event

PropertyDescription
DefinitionFact emitted by a provider at a point in time (immutable payload + metadata).
Why it mattersBasis for idempotency, ordering, and schema contracts.
HookdeckHookdeck preserves event identity/metadata for tracing, dedupe, and replay. Learn more
Also calledwebhook, event, message, notification, trigger, signal, action, occurrence, incident, activity, operation, transaction, state change, update, alert, notification trigger, event notification, business event, system event, domain event

Related terms: Idempotency · Correlation ID · Schema drift

Webhook gateway

PropertyDescription
DefinitionEntry point that offers verification, middlewares and routing of webhooks.
Why it mattersOffloads edge complexity and centralizes control/visibility.
HookdeckTreat Hookdeck as your managed event gateway for webhooks. Learn more
Also calledbroker, edge, API gateway, edge gateway, message broker, event broker, ingestion gateway

Related terms: Webhook proxy · Visibility layer · Routing

Webhook header

PropertyDescription
DefinitionHTTP headers attached to a webhook request, carrying context such as event type, signature, delivery ID, and retry count.
Why it mattersHeaders are critical for authentication, tracing, and interpreting the payload; missing or tampered headers can break verification or observability.
HookdeckHookdeck preserves provider headers, adds delivery IDs and metadata, and makes them searchable in the dashboard.
Also calledrequest header, HTTP header, metadata header, webhook request header

Related terms: Webhook body · Signature (HMAC) · Correlation ID


Webhook metadata

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSupplemental information attached to a webhook delivery that isn't part of the main event body (e.g., delivery ID, retry count, timestamp).
Why it mattersMetadata enables idempotency checks, observability, and replay; it's how you distinguish retries or trace an event across systems.
HookdeckHookdeck enriches webhooks with delivery metadata (timestamps, status, attempt count) and makes it queryable for debugging or replay.
Also calledevent metadata, delivery context, webhook context, delivery attributes

Related terms: Idempotency · Retry · Correlation ID

Webhook provider

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSystem that emits webhook events. Example: Stripe publishes invoice.paid.
Why it mattersClarifies who signs requests and defines payload schema.
HookdeckHookdeck doesn't change your provider; it consumes their webhooks and normalizes intake. Learn more
Also calledsource, publisher, sender, producer, emitter, originator, broadcaster, source system, event producer, notification source, event source, webhook sender, dispatcher, initiator

Related terms: Webhook consumer · Endpoint · Signature (HMAC)

Forwarding & Edge Proxy

Accepting webhooks at the edge and relaying them to internal destinations (including localhost during development). This matters because it hides internal surfaces, centralizes control and visibility, and reduces production risk.

Forwarding

PropertyDescription
DefinitionPush received webhooks to another URL (localhost or multiple services).
Why it mattersHides internal services; enables fan-out and env isolation.
HookdeckForward from Hookdeck to one or many internal endpoints without exposing them.
Also calledrelay, proxy, event relay, message forwarding, webhook relay, pass-through, re-routing

Related terms: Routing · Replay

Tunnel

PropertyDescription
DefinitionTemporary public URL to localhost.
Why it mattersEnables local development/testing without exposing prod.
HookdeckUse tunnels for dev using the CLI. In prod terminate at Hookdeck, not localhost. Learn more
Also calledreverse tunnel, localhost tunnel, dev tunnel, HTTP tunnel, secure tunnel

Related terms: Sandbox · Forwarding

Webhook proxy

PropertyDescription
DefinitionComponent that terminates incoming HTTP then re-sends.
Why it mattersAdds visibility, control, and security at the edge.
HookdeckHookdeck is your managed webhook proxy with logs and control.
Also calledgateway, edge proxy, webhook gateway, reverse proxy, middleware proxy, intermediary

Related terms: Visibility layer · Signature (HMAC)

Ingestion & Flow Control

Reliable intake and traffic shaping before processing—accept, buffer, queue/stream, and apply backpressure. This matters because it decouples providers from consumers, absorbs bursts, preserves durability, and keeps downstream systems stable.

Backpressure

PropertyDescription
DefinitionMechanism to slow producers when consumers lag.
Why it mattersPrevents overload and cascading failures.
HookdeckUse Hookdeck rate limits to push back safely.
Also calledflow control, rate control, congestion control, throttle feedback

Related terms: Rate limiting · Burst control

Buffer

PropertyDescription
DefinitionShort-term storage before processing.
Why it mattersSmooths spikes; prevents loss on crashes.
HookdeckHookdeck absorbs bursts and smooths delivery to protect services.
Also calledqueue, staging area, cache, temporary storage, holding area, event buffer

Related terms: Queue · Burst control

Fan-in

PropertyDescription
DefinitionMany providers into one ingress point.
Why it mattersCentralizes auth/verification and reduces operational sprawl.
HookdeckReceive from many providers in Hookdeck; normalize and forward internally.
Also calledaggregation, consolidation, many-to-one, collection point, convergence

Related terms: Ingestion · Routing

Ingestion

PropertyDescription
DefinitionReliable intake of inbound events (accept → buffer → persist → dispatch).
Why it mattersAbsorbs spikes and decouples providers from consumers.
HookdeckHookdeck is your ingress: receive, verify, buffer, then deliver.
Also calledintake, intake pipeline, event ingestion, data ingestion, collection, event collection

Related terms: Buffer · Queue

Partition

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSubset/lane of an event stream.
Why it mattersScales processing while preserving per-key order.
HookdeckRoute by keys via Hookdeck to approximate partitions.
Also calledshard, segment, slice, channel, lane, sub-stream

Related terms: Stream · Ordering

Queue

PropertyDescription
DefinitionFIFO structure for events awaiting processing. Careful not to confuse FIFO with ordering.
Why it mattersControls concurrency and isolation.
HookdeckDeliveries queue at Hookdeck; control concurrency toward your app.
Also calledmessage queue, event queue, task queue, work queue, processing queue

Related terms: Retry · DLQ

Stream

PropertyDescription
DefinitionOrdered partitioned log of events.
Why it mattersSupports high-throughput ingest with partitioned ordering.
HookdeckForward from Hookdeck into your stream processor if needed.
Also calledlog, topic, event stream, message stream, data stream, event log, commit log

Related terms: Partition · Routing

Routing & Transformation

Decide where each event goes and how its payload is shaped so consumers can act. This matters because it reduces noise and coupling, enables multiple consumers, and keeps data usable across services.

Enrichment

PropertyDescription
DefinitionAdd data from other systems.
Why it mattersProvides context for smarter downstream decisions.
HookdeckDo enrichment in downstream services; Hookdeck focuses on transport/control.
Also calledhydration, augmentation, enhancement, data enrichment, context addition

Related terms: Transformation · Routing

Fan-out

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSend one event to many endpoints.
Why it mattersLets multiple teams/systems react to the same event.
HookdeckFan-out from Hookdeck to billing, analytics, CRM, etc.
Also calledbroadcast, multicast, one-to-many, distribution, replication, scatter

Related terms: Forwarding · Routing

Filtering

PropertyDescription
DefinitionInclude/exclude events via predicates.
Why it mattersReduces noise and downstream cost.
HookdeckFilter at Hookdeck so your app only sees relevant events. Learn more
Also calledrules, selectors, event filtering, event selection, subscription filtering, event discrimination, topic filtering, event criteria

Related terms: Routing · Transformation

Routing

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSend events to destinations based on rules (headers, type, body fields).
Why it mattersEnsures the right services receive relevant events.
HookdeckRoute by headers/body rules in Hookdeck; target the right services.
Also calleddispatch, fan-out, event routing, message routing, distribution, directing

Related terms: Filtering · Forwarding

Transformation

PropertyDescription
DefinitionChange payload shape.
Why it mattersNormalizes inputs across providers and versions.
HookdeckAfter consuming a webhook, modify payload using Javascript before delivery. Learn more
Also calledmapping, adapters, translation, conversion, reshaping, reformatting, normalization

Related terms: Enrichment · Schema drift

Delivery Semantics

The delivery contract: what “delivered” means and what guarantees exist (acknowledgement, ordering, idempotency). This matters because it sets correct expectations, drives handler design, and informs retry/redelivery behavior.

Acknowledgement

PropertyDescription
DefinitionEndpoint's confirmation of receipt (e.g., 200/204).
Why it mattersFast acks prevent provider retries/timeouts.
HookdeckHookdeck acks providers quickly, then delivers to your app asynchronously.
Also calledack, 2xx response, receipt confirmation, delivery confirmation, success response, webhook acknowledgment, reception confirmation, ACK

Related terms: Delivery · Timeout

At-least-once

PropertyDescription
DefinitionDeliveries may be duplicated but not lost.
Why it mattersDefault for most providers; requires idempotent consumers.
HookdeckEmbraces at-least-once; pair with idempotency/deduping.
Also calledguaranteed delivery, reliable delivery

Related terms: Idempotency · Retry

At-most-once

PropertyDescription
DefinitionNo duplicates, but loss possible.
Why it mattersNot ideal for critical workloads.
HookdeckPrefer at-least-once + idempotency instead.
Also calledbest-effort delivery, fire-and-forget

Related terms: Delivery

Deduplication

PropertyDescription
DefinitionDetect and drop duplicates.
Why it mattersPrevents double-charging, double-sends, and data skew.
HookdeckCombine provider IDs with Hookdeck delivery IDs to drop duplicates.
Also calledde-dupe, duplicate detection, duplicate removal, duplicate filtering

Related terms: Idempotency · Replay

Delivery

PropertyDescription
DefinitionAct of sending an event to an endpoint; success = HTTP 2xx.
Why it mattersDrives retry/backoff policy and alerting.
HookdeckHookdeck manages delivery with retries, backoff, and observability.
Also calleddispatch, push, transmission, send, event delivery, webhook delivery, notification delivery, message delivery

Related terms: Retry · Timeout · Latency

Exactly-once

PropertyDescription
DefinitionNo loss, no duplicates, ordered.
Why it mattersHard to guarantee over HTTP; emulate at consumer.
HookdeckAchieve via idempotency + dedupe, not transport promises.
Also calledguaranteed unique delivery, perfect delivery

Related terms: Idempotency · Deduplication

Idempotency

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSafe to process the same event more than once.
Why it mattersEnables safe retries/replays without double effects.
HookdeckHookdeck exposes stable IDs so your app can record and skip duplicates.
Also calleddeduplicated processing, idempotent processing, duplicate safety, re-delivery safety, multiple delivery handling, replay safety

Related terms: Retry · Replay · Correlation ID

Ordering

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSequence guarantees across deliveries.
Why it mattersSome workflows need per-key ordering; most webhooks don't guarantee it.
HookdeckDon't assume order; design consumers for out-of-order events.
Also calledin-order delivery, sequential delivery, event ordering, message ordering, FIFO guarantee

Related terms: Partition · Idempotency

Reliability & Recovery

Controls and patterns that keep deliveries working under failure (retry, backoff, timeouts, DLQ, replay, rate/burst limits, circuit breakers). This matters because they prevent loss, protect dependencies, and enable safe, targeted recovery.

Backoff

PropertyDescription
DefinitionIncreasing delay between retries.
Why it mattersAvoids thundering herds and contention.
HookdeckHookdeck staggers retries with backoff and jitter.
Also calledexponential backoff, progressive delay, incremental retry, graduated retry, expanding intervals, geometric backoff, progressive backoff

Related terms: Retry · Rate limiting

Burst control

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSmooth short spikes to a steady flow.
Why it mattersPrevents overload and keeps latency predictable.
HookdeckHookdeck smooths spikes with buffering and controlled concurrency.
Also calledsmoothing, traffic shaping, load leveling, spike dampening

Related terms: Rate limiting · Buffer

Circuit breaker

PropertyDescription
DefinitionTemporarily stop calls to a failing endpoint.
Why it mattersPrevents cascading failures and protects upstreams.
HookdeckPause or disable forwarding when an endpoint degrades. Learn more
Also calledfailure protection, automatic cutoff, endpoint protection, overload protection, failure circuit

Related terms: Retry · Timeout

Dead Letter Queue (DLQ)

PropertyDescription
DefinitionHolds permanently failed events.
Why it mattersStops endless retries; enables safe manual review.
HookdeckHookdeck isolates permanently failing deliveries for review and replay.
Also calledpoison queue, failed message queue, error queue, undeliverable queue, failed webhook storage, retry exhaustion queue

Related terms: Retry · Replay

Rate limiting

PropertyDescription
DefinitionCap accepted requests per time unit.
Why it mattersProtects brittle or costly endpoints.
HookdeckThrottle at Hookdeck to shield downstream services. Learn more
Also calledthrottling, request throttling, API throttling, rate control, request limiting

Related terms: Burst control · Backoff

Replay

PropertyDescription
DefinitionRe-send historical event to an endpoint.
Why it mattersFix bugs and recover without asking providers to resend.
HookdeckReplay single events or ranges from Hookdeck.
Also calledre-drive, reprocess, re-run, event replay, message replay, historical replay

Related terms: Idempotency · DLQ

Retry

PropertyDescription
DefinitionRe-delivery attempts after failure.
Why it mattersPrevents loss from transient errors.
HookdeckConfigure Hookdeck retries so transient failures don't drop events. Learn more
Also calledredelivery, retry attempt, retry logic, retry mechanism, resend, re-attempt, failure recovery

Related terms: Backoff · DLQ

Timeout

PropertyDescription
DefinitionMax wait for endpoint to respond.
Why it mattersBalances provider SLAs with processing time.
HookdeckHookdeck returns fast to providers and continues delivery to your app. Learn more
Also calledrequest timeout, connection timeout, response timeout, delivery timeout, time limit, maximum wait time, deadline

Related terms: Delivery · Latency

Security & Data Governance

Identity, transport security, access control, and data handling/retention for webhooks. This matters because it preserves integrity and confidentiality, limits blast radius, and satisfies compliance requirements.

Encryption at rest

PropertyDescription
DefinitionStored data encrypted on disk.
Why it mattersCompliance and risk reduction.
HookdeckData is encrypted with AES-256. Retain only what you need; apply org data-at-rest policies.
Also calleddata-at-rest encryption, storage encryption, disk encryption

Related terms: PII masking · Retention window

Encryption in transit

PropertyDescription
DefinitionTLS for all network hops.
Why it mattersPrevents eavesdropping/tampering.
HookdeckData is encrypted with TLS 1.2 or better. Terminate HTTPS at Hookdeck and forward over TLS.
Also calledHTTPS, transport encryption, wire encryption, data-in-transit encryption

Related terms: mTLS

IP allowlist

PropertyDescription
DefinitionOnly accept from trusted source IPs.
Why it mattersHardens ingress; reduces attack surface.
HookdeckAllowlist Hookdeck egress IPs on your network; block everything else.
Also calledwhitelist, allowlist, IP filtering, source IP restriction, network filtering, IP authorization, access control list (ACL)

Related terms: mTLS · Signature (HMAC)

mTLS

PropertyDescription
DefinitionMutual TLS between sender and receiver using client certs.
Why it mattersStronger identity than shared secrets.
HookdeckKeep Hookdeck at the edge; use mTLS on internal hops where policy requires.
Also calledclient cert auth, two-way SSL, bidirectional TLS, two-way TLS, certificate-based authentication

Related terms: Encryption in transit · Signature (HMAC)

OAuth (Webhook auth)

PropertyDescription
DefinitionToken-based auth for receiving/forwarding requests.
Why it mattersStandardizes access; less common for inbound webhooks.
HookdeckHookdeck forwards bearer headers if your app expects them. Learn more
Also calledbearer tokens, token authentication, API tokens, access tokens

Related terms: Signature (HMAC)

PII masking

PropertyDescription
DefinitionHide sensitive data at rest/in logs.
Why it mattersCompliance and least-privilege.
HookdeckKeep retention low; mask or avoid storing PII in downstream logs.
Also calledredaction, data masking, data obfuscation, anonymization, sensitive data removal

Related terms: Encryption at rest · Retention window

Retention window

PropertyDescription
DefinitionHow long events/logs are kept.
Why it mattersImpacts privacy, cost, and compliance.
HookdeckSet intentional retention; keep only what you need for replay/compliance.
Also calledTTL, retention period, data retention, storage duration, keep-alive period

Related terms: Replay · PII masking

Secret rotation

PropertyDescription
DefinitionRegularly change signing/verifier keys.
Why it mattersLimits blast radius of leaked/old secrets.
HookdeckRotate provider secrets in Hookdeck; overlap keys during cutovers.
Also calledkey rotation, key refresh, secret refresh, key management

Related terms: Signature (HMAC)

Signature (HMAC)

PropertyDescription
DefinitionCryptographic proof event is from provider (verify signature header with shared secret).
Why it mattersPrevents spoofing; only trusted events reach systems.
HookdeckVerify provider signatures at Hookdeck; forward only if checks pass. Learn more
Also calledsigning secret, hash signature, message authentication code, security signature, verification signature, authentication hash, request signature, payload signature

Related terms: IP allowlist · mTLS

Performance & SLAs

The metrics and targets for system behavior (HTTP codes, latency, throughput, SLOs/SLAs). This matters because they guide capacity planning, alerting, and performance tuning so the experience meets commitments.

HTTP 2xx/4xx/5xx

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSuccess (2xx), client error (4xx), server error (5xx).
Why it matters4xx usually stop retries; 5xx/timeouts trigger retries.
HookdeckConfigure per-route retry policy and alerting.
Also calledresponse codes, status responses, HTTP responses, result codes, return codes

Related terms: Retry · Timeout

Latency

PropertyDescription
DefinitionTime from send to acknowledgement.
Why it mattersImpacts user experience and SLAs.
HookdeckProvider-facing latency minimized; internal delivery latency observable.
Also calledresponse time, delivery latency, processing time, round-trip time

Related terms: Timeout · Throughput

SLA / SLO

PropertyDescription
DefinitionAvailability/latency commitments and objectives.
Why it mattersGuides reliability budgets and alerts.
HookdeckMeasure at Hookdeck routes and downstream endpoints.
Also calledService Level Agreement, Service Level Objective, uptime guarantee, performance targets

Related terms: Latency · Retry

Throughput

PropertyDescription
DefinitionEvents processed per time unit.
Why it mattersCapacity planning and cost control.
HookdeckBuffering + rate limits let you right-size downstream capacity.
Also calledTPS, RPS, events per second, messages per second, processing rate, event rate

Related terms: Rate limiting · Burst control

Observability & Environments

Seeing what’s happening and testing changes safely through tracing/visibility and sandbox/staging/blue-green/mocks. This matters because it speeds debugging, makes regressions obvious, and lowers risk when shipping changes.

Blue/Green

PropertyDescription
DefinitionTwo prod environments for zero-downtime switch.
Why it mattersReduces risk during deploys and migrations.
HookdeckPause a route, then flip Hookdeck routing between blue and green during deploys.
Also calledblue-green deployment, zero-downtime deployment, rolling deployment

Related terms: Staging · Routing

Correlation ID

PropertyDescription
DefinitionID used to trace a single event end-to-end.
Why it mattersLinks logs across hops for debugging.
HookdeckComplete logs and traceability within Hookdeck. Learn more
Also calledtrace ID, request ID, message ID, event ID, webhook ID, transaction ID, unique identifier

Related terms: Visibility layer · Idempotency

Mock server

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSimulates provider to test consumers.
Why it mattersEnables deterministic tests without external dependencies.
HookdeckUse provider fixtures/mocks; forward via Hookdeck for end-to-end tests.
Also calledstub, test server, simulator, fake server, test double

Related terms: Sandbox

Sandbox

PropertyDescription
DefinitionSafe environment for testing webhooks.
Why it mattersPrevents test data from polluting production.
HookdeckPoint provider test mode at Hookdeck sandbox project or routes; isolate from prod.
Also calledtest mode, test environment, dev environment, staging sandbox

Related terms: Tunnel · Staging

Schema drift

PropertyDescription
DefinitionPayload shape changes over time.
Why it mattersBreaks consumers silently; must detect early.
HookdeckUse Hookdeck logs to spot payload changes; alert via your observability stack.
Also calledcontract drift, schema evolution, payload drift, format drift, API versioning issues

Related terms: Transformation · Filtering

Staging

PropertyDescription
DefinitionPre-prod environment mirroring prod.
Why it mattersValidate fixes before live traffic.
HookdeckUse separate Hookdeck project or routes per environment.
Also calledpre-prod, UAT, pre-production, test environment

Related terms: Blue/Green · Sandbox

Visibility layer

PropertyDescription
DefinitionCentral place to observe/trace webhooks.
Why it mattersSpeeds debugging and incident response.
HookdeckHookdeck centralizes logs, search, and alerts for every webhook.
Also calledobservability gateway, monitoring layer, telemetry layer, insights platform

Related terms: Webhook proxy · Correlation ID