saleor-webhooks

Saleor Webhooks

Before writing code

Fetch live docs:

1. Fetch https://docs.saleor.io/docs/developer/extending/webhooks/overview for webhook overview
2. Web-search site:docs.saleor.io async sync webhook events list for event type reference
3. Web-search site:docs.saleor.io webhook subscription payload for subscription query syntax
4. Web-search site:docs.saleor.io webhook payload signature JWS verification for signature verification
5. Web-search site:docs.saleor.io webhook retry policy for retry behavior

Async vs Sync Webhooks

| Aspect | Async Webhooks | Sync Webhooks | |--------|---------------|---------------| | Timing | Fired after the action completes | Fired during the action, blocks response | | Response | Saleor ignores the response body | Saleor uses the response to alter behavior | | Timeout | Longer (configurable) | Short (seconds) -- must respond quickly | | Retry | Retried on failure | Not retried -- failure may abort the operation | | Use Case | Notifications, syncing, analytics | Tax calculation, payment gateways, shipping rates |

Key Async Event Types

| Event | Trigger | |-------|---------| | ORDER_CREATED | New order is placed | | ORDER_UPDATED | Order fields are modified | | ORDER_CONFIRMED | Order is confirmed | | ORDER_FULFILLED | All items in the order are fulfilled | | ORDER_CANCELLED | Order is cancelled | | ORDER_FULLY_PAID | Order payment is complete | | PRODUCT_CREATED | New product is created | | PRODUCT_UPDATED | Product fields are modified | | PRODUCT_DELETED | Product is deleted | | CUSTOMER_CREATED | New customer account is created | | CUSTOMER_UPDATED | Customer data is modified | | CHECKOUT_CREATED | New checkout session starts | | CHECKOUT_UPDATED | Checkout data changes | | FULFILLMENT_CREATED | Fulfillment record is created | | INVOICE_SENT | Invoice email is dispatched |

Key Sync Event Types

| Event | Expected Response | |-------|------------------| | PAYMENT_GATEWAY_INITIALIZE_SESSION | Payment session configuration | | TRANSACTION_INITIALIZE_SESSION | Transaction processing data | | TRANSACTION_PROCESS_SESSION | Transaction result | | TRANSACTION_CHARGE_REQUESTED | Charge confirmation | | TRANSACTION_REFUND_REQUESTED | Refund confirmation | | SHIPPING_LIST_METHODS_FOR_CHECKOUT | Available shipping methods and rates | | CHECKOUT_CALCULATE_TAXES | Tax amounts for checkout lines | | ORDER_CALCULATE_TAXES | Tax amounts for order lines | | CHECKOUT_FILTER_SHIPPING_METHODS | Filter available shipping options | | ORDER_FILTER_SHIPPING_METHODS | Filter shipping for existing orders |

Sync webhooks must return a response in the expected format -- fetch live docs for each event's response schema.

Subscription Payloads

Saleor uses GraphQL subscription queries to define webhook payload shapes:

subscription OrderCreated {
  event {
    ... on OrderCreated {
      order { id number total { gross { amount currency } } user { email } }
    }
  }
}

This subscription query is attached to the webhook configuration and controls exactly which fields appear in the delivered payload.

Subscription Payload Benefits

| Benefit | Detail | |---------|--------| | Precise data | Request only the fields you need | | Reduced payload size | No unnecessary nested objects | | Type safety | Payload matches the subscription query shape | | Versioning | Update the query when you need new fields |

Webhook Registration

Via App Manifest

Webhooks are declared in the App manifest and registered automatically during installation:

| Manifest Field | Purpose | |---------------|---------| | webhooks[].name | Human-readable webhook name | | webhooks[].asyncEvents | List of async event types | | webhooks[].syncEvents | List of sync event types | | webhooks[].query | GraphQL subscription query for payload | | webhooks[].targetUrl | URL to receive the webhook POST | | webhooks[].isActive | Enable or disable the webhook |

Via GraphQL API

| Mutation | Purpose | |----------|---------| | webhookCreate | Register a new webhook | | webhookUpdate | Modify an existing webhook | | webhookDelete | Remove a webhook |

Staff users or Apps with MANAGE_APPS permission can manage webhooks via the API.

Payload Signature Verification

Saleor signs every webhook payload to ensure authenticity. Since Saleor 3.5+, the default method is JWS (JSON Web Signature) with RS256. Legacy HMAC-SHA256 is deprecated.

| Header | Value | |--------|-------| | Saleor-Signature | JWS signature (default) or HMAC-SHA256 hex digest (deprecated) | | Saleor-Event | The event type (e.g., order_created) | | Saleor-Domain | The Saleor instance domain | | Saleor-Api-Url | Full URL of the Saleor GraphQL endpoint |

Signature Methods

| Method | Status | How It Works | |--------|--------|-------------| | JWS (RS256) | Default (3.5+) | Payload-detached JWS; verify with public key from /.well-known/jwks.json | | HMAC-SHA256 | Deprecated | Only used when a webhook secret key is explicitly set; will be removed in 4.0 |

JWS Verification Steps

| Step | Action | |------|--------| | 1 | Read the Saleor-Signature header (JWS compact serialization) | | 2 | Fetch the public key from <saleor-domain>/.well-known/jwks.json | | 3 | Verify the JWS signature using the RS256 public key | | 4 | Reject the request if verification fails |

The saleor-app-sdk provides built-in middleware for automatic signature verification. Always verify signatures before processing any webhook payload.

Retry Policy

| Aspect | Detail | |--------|--------| | Async retries | Saleor retries failed async webhooks with exponential backoff | | Max attempts | Configurable -- fetch live docs for default | | Failure criteria | Non-2xx HTTP response or connection timeout | | Sync retries | Sync webhooks are not retried | | Circuit breaker | Saleor may disable a webhook after repeated failures |

Webhook Handler Pattern

| Step | Action | |------|--------| | 1 | Receive POST request at targetUrl | | 2 | Verify payload signature (JWS or HMAC) | | 3 | Parse the JSON payload | | 4 | Route by event type (Saleor-Event header) | | 5 | Process the event (sync: return response; async: acknowledge with 200) | | 6 | Return appropriate HTTP status |

For async webhooks, return HTTP 200 immediately and process the event asynchronously if it requires heavy work.

Error Handling

| Scenario | Behavior | |----------|----------| | App returns 5xx | Async: retried; Sync: operation may fail | | App returns 4xx | Async: retried; Sync: operation may fail | | App timeout | Async: retried; Sync: fallback or failure | | Invalid signature | App should return 401 and not process | | Malformed payload | App should return 400 and log the error |

Best Practices

• Always verify payload signatures (JWS or HMAC) before processing any webhook
• Use subscription queries to minimize payload size and improve performance
• Return HTTP 200 immediately for async webhooks, then process asynchronously
• Keep sync webhook handlers fast -- they block the user-facing operation
• Monitor webhook delivery status in the Saleor Dashboard
• Implement idempotency for async handlers -- the same event may be delivered more than once
• Use the Saleor-Event header to route to the correct handler function
• Log failed webhook deliveries for debugging and alerting

Fetch the Saleor webhook documentation for exact event type enumerations, subscription query patterns, and retry configuration before implementing.