Webhooks

Webhook Gateway Operations

Manage the joelclaw webhook gateway — add providers, debug delivery, register with external services.

Architecture

External Service → hooks.joelclaw.com → narrow Vercel raw-body proxy
  → Flagg Tailscale Funnel :10000 → Worker :3111 → /webhooks/:provider
  → verifySignature() → normalizePayload() → (queue pilot or direct Inngest event) → notify function → gateway

Stable provider URL target:

https://hooks.joelclaw.com/webhooks/<provider>

The ingress is intentionally narrow: it preserves raw bodies/signature headers and only proxies /webhooks/:provider. Provider registrations still using Panda are migration work; do not declare a provider migrated until a real signed delivery succeeds through the stable URL.

• ADR-0048: Webhook Gateway for External Service Integration
• Gateway skill: Use gateway push/gateway test patterns for delivery checks

Current Providers

Current ADR-0217 pilot note: when QUEUE_PILOTS=github, the webhook gateway enqueues normalized github/workflow_run.completed events into the shared Redis queue instead of posting them directly to Inngest. The Restate drainer then forwards the concrete event name github/workflow_run.completed. github/package.published still goes direct.

Adding a New Provider

See references/new-provider-checklist.md for the full 8-step checklist.

Quick summary:

1. Create providers/{name}.ts implementing WebhookProvider interface
2. Register in server.ts provider map
3. Create Inngest notify function(s) in functions/{name}-notify.ts
4. Export from functions/index.ts and add to functions/index.host.ts (or index.cluster.ts when cluster-owned)
5. Store webhook secret in agent-secrets → add lease to start.sh
6. Deploy: joelclaw inngest restart-worker --register
7. Register webhook URL with external service
8. Verify E2E with curl + real webhook

Key Files

Debugging Webhooks

Check if webhook is arriving

# Watch worker logs
joelclaw logs worker --follow --grep webhook

# Or directly
curl -s http://localhost:3111/ | jq .webhooks
# → { endpoint: "/webhooks/:provider", providers: ["todoist", "front", "vercel"] }

Signature verification failures

# Test with manual HMAC (SHA1 example for Vercel)
SECRET="your-webhook-secret"
BODY='{"type":"test-webhook","payload":{}}'
HMAC=$(echo -n "$BODY" | openssl dgst -sha1 -hmac "$SECRET" -binary | xxd -p)
curl -X POST http://localhost:3111/webhooks/vercel \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-vercel-signature: $HMAC" \
  -d "$BODY"

Common failures:

• Wrong secret — Todoist uses client_secret (not "Verification token"), Vercel uses the secret from webhook creation, Front uses the rules-based secret
• Encoding mismatch — Todoist = base64, Vercel = hex, Front = base64 over compact JSON
• Body mutation — Caddy/proxy rewrites body. Use Tailscale Funnel → worker directly
• Rate limited — 20 auth failures per IP per minute. Wait or restart worker

Check Inngest received events

joelclaw runs --count 5
# Look for vercel-deploy-*, todoist-*, front-* function runs

Gateway not receiving notifications

joelclaw gateway status
joelclaw gateway events   # Peek pending events

Registering Webhooks with Services

Vercel (Pro/Enterprise required)

# Via Vercel dashboard: Settings → Webhooks → Create
# Or via API:
VERCEL_TOKEN="your-api-token"
curl -X POST "https://api.vercel.com/v1/webhooks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VERCEL_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://hooks.joelclaw.com/webhooks/vercel",
    "events": ["deployment.created", "deployment.succeeded", "deployment.error", "deployment.canceled"]
  }'

The response includes a secret — store it: secrets add vercel_webhook_secret --value "..."

GitHub

Set up via repo Settings → Webhooks:

• URL: https://hooks.joelclaw.com/webhooks/github
• Content type: application/json
• Secret: generate one, store as github_webhook_secret
• Events: push, pull_request, deployment_status, or "Send me everything"

Todoist

Configured at https://hooks.joelclaw.com/webhooks/todoist via Todoist App Console → Webhooks tab. Uses client_secret as HMAC key (not the "Verification token").

Front

Configured at https://hooks.joelclaw.com/webhooks/front as a Front application webhook. Initial validation is a signed challenge. Application events use HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp:rawBody; legacy Rules events use HMAC-SHA1 over compact JSON. Keep their secrets separate.

Signature Algorithms by Provider

Gotchas

• Caddy drops Funnel POST bodies — Point Tailscale Funnel directly at worker :3111, not through Caddy
• joelclaw inngest restart-worker --register after deploy — ensures restart + registration in one step
• Vercel webhooks are Pro/Enterprise only — free plans cannot create account-level webhooks
• Front has TWO webhook types — application (SHA256, signed challenges) and Rules (SHA1, no challenges). The worker supports both; hooks.joelclaw.com is registered as the application webhook.
• agent-secrets v0.5.0+ — raw output is default, don't pass --raw flag
• Idempotency keys on all events — safe to receive duplicates from retry-happy providers