Technical Glossary
Webhooks & Event Notifications
Exact Definition
A webhook is an HTTP callback that allows one system to notify another system in real time when a specific event occurs — eliminating the need for polling APIs and enabling event-driven integrations between ERP modules and third-party services.
Architectural Deep Dive
Polling APIs (repeatedly checking 'has anything changed?') is wasteful and slow. Webhooks invert the relationship: the source system sends an HTTP POST to a registered URL when an event fires — e.g., Stripe sending a payment.succeeded event to your ERP's billing module. Webhooks require endpoint signature verification (HMAC-SHA256) to prevent spoofed events, idempotency key handling for retries, and dead-letter queues for failed deliveries.
The ERPStack Approach
We build hardened webhook endpoints in Next.js API routes with Svix or in-house HMAC signature verification, idempotency keys backed by PostgreSQL, and SQS dead-letter queues for zero-loss event delivery.