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Stripe Webhook Integration

Stripe webhooks allow you to receive real-time notifications about events in your Stripe account, such as successful payments, failed charges, subscription updates, and more.

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Quick Start

  1. Get your Unhook URL: https://unhook.sh/wh_YOUR_ID
  2. Configure in Stripe Dashboard: dashboard.stripe.com/webhooks
  3. Start receiving events locally: unhook listen

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Configuration Steps

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1. Access Stripe Webhook Settings

Navigate to the Stripe Dashboard:

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2. Create a New Endpoint

  1. Click “Add endpoint”
  2. Enter your Unhook URL: 
    https://unhook.sh/wh_YOUR_ID
  3. Select API version (optional - defaults to your account version)

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3. Select Events to Listen For

Choose the events relevant to your application:

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Payment Events

  • payment_intent.succeeded - Payment completed successfully
  • payment_intent.payment_failed - Payment attempt failed
  • charge.succeeded - Charge was successful
  • charge.failed - Charge failed
  • charge.refunded - Charge was refunded
  • charge.dispute.created - Customer disputed a charge

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Customer Events

  • customer.created - New customer created
  • customer.updated - Customer details updated
  • customer.deleted - Customer deleted
  • customer.source.created - Payment method added
  • customer.source.deleted - Payment method removed

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Subscription Events

  • customer.subscription.created - New subscription started
  • customer.subscription.updated - Subscription modified
  • customer.subscription.deleted - Subscription cancelled
  • customer.subscription.trial_will_end - Trial ending soon
  • invoice.payment_succeeded - Subscription payment successful
  • invoice.payment_failed - Subscription payment failed

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Checkout Events

  • checkout.session.completed - Checkout session successful
  • checkout.session.expired - Checkout session expired
  • checkout.session.async_payment_succeeded - Async payment completed
  • checkout.session.async_payment_failed - Async payment failed

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Connect Events (for platforms)

  • account.updated - Connected account updated
  • account.application.authorized - OAuth connection authorized
  • account.application.deauthorized - OAuth connection removed
  • payout.created - Payout initiated
  • payout.paid - Payout completed
  • payout.failed - Payout failed

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4. Configure Webhook Settings

After selecting events, configure additional settings:
  1. Description: Add a meaningful description (e.g., “Production webhooks for MyApp”)
  2. Listen to: Choose between live mode and test mode events
  3. Click “Add endpoint” to save

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Webhook Signing Secret

Stripe signs all webhook events for security. To verify signatures:
  1. After creating the endpoint, click on it to view details
  2. Click “Reveal” under Signing secret
  3. Copy the whsec_... value
  4. Add it to your environment variables: 
    STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_abc123...

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Testing Webhooks

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Using Stripe CLI

# Install Stripe CLI from https://stripe.com/docs/stripe-cli#install

# Login to your Stripe account
stripe login

# Trigger test events
stripe trigger payment_intent.succeeded
stripe trigger customer.subscription.created

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Using Stripe Dashboard

  1. Go to your webhook endpoint in the Dashboard
  2. Click “Send test webhook”
  3. Select an event type
  4. Click “Send test webhook”

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Event Payload Examples

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Payment Intent Succeeded

{
  "id": "evt_1234567890",
  "object": "event",
  "api_version": "2023-10-16",
  "created": 1234567890,
  "data": {
    "object": {
      "id": "pi_1234567890",
      "object": "payment_intent",
      "amount": 2000,
      "currency": "usd",
      "status": "succeeded",
      "customer": "cus_1234567890",
      "metadata": {
        "order_id": "12345"
      }
    }
  },
  "type": "payment_intent.succeeded"
}

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Customer Subscription Created

{
  "id": "evt_1234567890",
  "object": "event",
  "api_version": "2023-10-16",
  "created": 1234567890,
  "data": {
    "object": {
      "id": "sub_1234567890",
      "object": "subscription",
      "customer": "cus_1234567890",
      "status": "active",
      "current_period_start": 1234567890,
      "current_period_end": 1234567890,
      "items": {
        "data": [{
          "id": "si_1234567890",
          "price": {
            "id": "price_1234567890",
            "product": "prod_1234567890",
            "unit_amount": 999,
            "currency": "usd"
          }
        }]
      }
    }
  },
  "type": "customer.subscription.created"
}

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Best Practices

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1. Verify Webhook Signatures

Always verify that webhooks are coming from Stripe: 
const stripe = require('stripe')(process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY);

const endpointSecret = process.env.STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET;

app.post('/webhook', express.raw({type: 'application/json'}), (request, response) => {
  const sig = request.headers['stripe-signature'];

  let event;

  try {
    event = stripe.webhooks.constructEvent(request.body, sig, endpointSecret);
  } catch (err) {
    console.log(`Webhook Error: ${err.message}`);
    return response.status(400).send(`Webhook Error: ${err.message}`);
  }

  // Handle the event
  switch (event.type) {
    case 'payment_intent.succeeded':
      const paymentIntent = event.data.object;
      // Handle successful payment
      break;
    default:
      console.log(`Unhandled event type ${event.type}`);
  }

  response.send();
});

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2. Handle Idempotency

Stripe may send the same event multiple times. Use the event ID to ensure idempotent processing: 
// Store processed event IDs to prevent duplicate processing
const processedEvents = new Set();

if (processedEvents.has(event.id)) {
  console.log(`Event ${event.id} already processed`);
  return response.send();
}

processedEvents.add(event.id);
// Process the event...

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3. Respond Quickly

Return a 2xx response quickly to acknowledge receipt: 
// Acknowledge receipt immediately
response.status(200).send();

// Process the webhook asynchronously
processWebhookAsync(event);

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4. Handle Failures Gracefully

Implement proper error handling and retries: 
try {
  await processWebhook(event);
} catch (error) {
  console.error('Webhook processing failed:', error);
  // Log to monitoring service
  // Queue for retry if appropriate
}

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Common Issues

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Missing Events

  • Ensure you’ve selected all required events in the webhook configuration
  • Check if you’re listening to the correct mode (live vs test)
  • Verify your endpoint URL is correct

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Signature Verification Failures

  • Make sure you’re using the correct endpoint secret
  • Ensure the raw request body is used for verification (not parsed JSON)
  • Check that your framework isn’t modifying the request body

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Timeout Errors

  • Respond to webhooks within 20 seconds
  • Process heavy operations asynchronously
  • Return 200 immediately, then process

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Support

Need help with Stripe webhooks?