Using Webhooks

Webhooks enable real-time communication between applications, allowing Blink to receive event data instantly without polling. When an event occurs, the external vendor system sends an HTTP request to a the webhook URL, triggering an automated workflow in Blink.

​

How Webhooks Work

Webhooks operate through HTTP POST requests when specific events occur.

The workflow follows these basic steps:

​

Authentication Methods

Webhook requests in Blink support two authentication methods:

• API Key Authentication
• Signature Authentication

​

API Key Authentication

This method allows the external service to execute the webhook using a static API key provided by Blink.

When an external service wants to trigger an event or send data to your application, it can do so by calling the webhook endpoint. To ensure that only authorized services can trigger this webhook, an API key is used. The API key acts as a secret token that the external service must include in its request to authenticate itself. If the API key is valid, the webhook is executed, and the desired action is executed.

​

Signature Authentication

For each request, the external vendor system generates a cryptographic signature to verify that the request is genuine. This signature is included in the request and verified by Blink to ensure the request’s integrity and authenticity. Unlike API Key authentication, the API key is not sent in the request. Instead, it is used to generate a unique signature for each request.

Signature authentication provides several benefits:

• Prevents spoofing – Ensures that only legitimate sources send webhook data.
• Guards against tampering – Verifies that the payload wasn’t modified in transit.
• Adds an extra security layer – Unlike API keys, which can be reused, signatures are unique to each request, making replay attacks difficult.

​

Best Practices

When configuring your workflow, consider validating payloads to ensure they match expected structures. This helps prevent malformed or malicious payloads from triggering the workflow and prevents errors when the workflow runs.

​

Configure a Webhook

There are two ways to configure a webhook for Blink:

• Using the webhook event configured for a specific external vendor
• Creating a custom webhook trigger: Useful when the relevant connection is not pre-configured in Blink.

To configure a webhook trigger:

1. Create a new workflow and select Event-Based Workflow.

2. Click Click to select an event to open the Trigger Setup popup.

3. Select a connection from the list and choose the relevant webhook event. If the connection isn’t currently supported by Blink, select Custom Webhook, then click Apply.

   Following is a description of the fields displayed in the Trigger Setup popup:

   Field	Description
   Webhook Event Name	The name assigned to the webhook event. By default, the Webhook Event Name is automatically set based on the connection you selected. You can modify this name to make it more descriptive. For example, Webhook: Retrieve All Events.
   Authentication Method	The authentication type used: API Key or Signature authentication.
   Webhook Full URL	The complete URL where events are sent. If using API Key Authentication, this URL includes the API key as a query parameter, and the external vendor system must send requests to this exact URL. No additional authentication headers are required. This field is not displayed when you choose the Signature authentication method.
   Webhook Base URL	The core webhook endpoint without query parameters. This is used for Signature Authentication, where the external vendor system generates a cryptographic signature before sending requests.
   Webhook API Key	The API key used for authentication. This is only applicable when using API Key Authentication and is embedded in the Webhook Full URL.

   API Key is selected as the authentication method. The Webhook Event Name, Webhook API Key, Webhook Full URL, and Webhook Base URL are displayed in their respective fields.

4. Optionally, choose Signature for the authentication method.

   The Webhook Base URL and Webhook API Key are generated and displayed in their respective fields.

5. Copy the automatically generated details and save them. You’ll need these to configure the webhook in the external vendor system.

   Notice that the Full URL contains the API key embedded in it. Whereas, the Base URL is only the link to the endpoint. Use the Base URL when embedding the key in the header.

6. Optionally, click Add condition to define additional trigger conditions.

7. Now, get Blink ready to listen for a test event:

   a. Next to Sample Event, click View.

   The Sample Webhook Event popup opens.

   b. Click Listen to event to start listening for events.

8. Go to the external vendor system:

   a. Configure the webhook, providing the webhook URL and API key in the relevant fields.

   The field in the external vendor system might be called Secret, Token or something similar.

   b. Send a test event to verify that Blink receives it.

   In order for the test event to be accepted by Blink, you must first trigger the listening, as explained in the previous step.

9. From Blink, watch the Sample Webhook Event window for the payload to load. When the event arrives, Blink captures and analyzes the payload.

10. Click Apply to confirm the detected schema and close the sample popup. Click Apply again to complete the configuration and close the Trigger Setup popup.

​

See It In Action

Watch a demo of custom webhook creation:

​

Related Articles