path: root/doc/user/project/integrations/webhooks.md

---
stage: Ecosystem
group: Integrations
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Webhooks **(FREE)**

[Webhooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webhook) are custom HTTP callbacks
that you define. They are usually triggered by an
event, such as pushing code to a repository or posting a comment on a blog.
When the event occurs, the source app makes an HTTP request to the URI
configured for the webhook. The action to take may be anything. For example,
you can use webhooks to:

- Trigger continuous integration (CI) jobs, update external issue trackers,
  update a backup mirror, or deploy to your production server.
- Send a notification to
  [Slack](https://api.slack.com/incoming-webhooks) every time a job fails.
- [Integrate with Twilio to be notified via SMS](https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/send-alerts-sms-customizable-webhooks-twilio/)
  every time an issue is created for a specific project or group in GitLab.
- [Automatically assign labels to merge requests](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/19/applying-gitlab-labels-automatically/).

You can configure your GitLab project or [group](#group-webhooks) to trigger a
[percent-encoded](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/percent-encoding) webhook URL
when an event occurs. For example, when new code is pushed or a new issue is created. The webhook
listens for specific [events](#events) and GitLab sends a POST request with data to the webhook URL.

Usually, you set up your own [webhook receiver](#create-an-example-webhook-receiver)
to receive information from GitLab and send it to another app, according to your requirements.
We have a [built-in receiver](slack.md)
for sending [Slack](https://api.slack.com/incoming-webhooks) notifications per project.

GitLab.com enforces [webhook limits](../../../user/gitlab_com/index.md#webhooks),
including:

- The maximum number of webhooks and their size, both per project and per group.
- The number of webhook calls per minute.

## Group webhooks **(PREMIUM)**

You can configure a group webhook, which is triggered by events
that occur across all projects in the group.

Group webhooks can also be configured to listen for events that are
specific to a group, including:

- [Group member events](webhook_events.md#group-member-events)
- [Subgroup events](webhook_events.md#subgroup-events)

## Configure a webhook in GitLab

You can configure a webhook for a group or a project.

1. In your project or group, on the left sidebar, select **Settings > Webhooks**.
1. In **URL**, enter the URL of the webhook endpoint.
   The URL must be percent-encoded if it contains one or more special characters.
1. In **Secret token**, enter the [secret token](#validate-payloads-by-using-a-secret-token) to validate payloads.
1. In the **Trigger** section, select the [events](webhook_events.md) to trigger the webhook.
1. Optional. Clear the **Enable SSL verification** checkbox to disable [SSL verification](overview.md#ssl-verification).
1. Select **Add webhook**.

## Configure your webhook receiver endpoint

Webhook receivers should be *fast* and *stable*.
Slow and unstable receivers may be disabled temporarily to ensure system reliability.
If you are writing your own endpoint (web server) to receive GitLab webhooks, keep in mind the following:

- Your endpoint should send its HTTP response as fast as possible.
  You should aim for sub-second response times in all circumstances.
  If the response takes longer than the configured timeout, GitLab assumes the
  hook failed, which can lead to retries and potentially cause duplicate
  events.
  To customize the timeout, see
  [Webhook fails or multiple webhook requests are triggered](#webhook-fails-or-multiple-webhook-requests-are-triggered).
- Your endpoint should ALWAYS return a valid HTTP response. If not,
  GitLab assumes the hook failed and retries it.
  Most HTTP libraries take care of the response for you automatically but if
  you are writing a low-level hook, this is important to remember.
- GitLab usually ignores the HTTP status code returned by your endpoint,
  unless the [`web_hooks_disable_failed` feature flag is set](#failing-webhooks).

Best practices for a webhook receiver:

- Prefer to return `200` or `201` status responses.
  Only return error statuses (in the `4xx` range) to
  indicate that the webhook has been misconfigured. For example, if your receiver
  only supports push events, it is acceptable to return `400` if sent an issue
  payload, since that is an indication that the hook has been set up
  incorrectly. Alternatively, it is acceptable to ignore unrecognized event
  payloads. Never return `500` status responses if the event has been handled.
- Your service should be idempotent. In some circumstances (including
  timeouts), the same event may be sent twice. Be prepared to handle duplicate
  events. You can reduce the chances of this by ensuring that your endpoint is
  reliably fast and stable.
- Keep response payloads as short as possible. Empty responses are
  fine. GitLab does not examine the response body, and it is only
  stored so you can examine it later in the logs.
- Limit the number and size of response headers. Only send headers that would
  help you diagnose problems when examining the web hook logs.
- To support fast response times, perform I/O or computationally intensive
  operations asynchronously. You may indicate that the webhook is
  asynchronous by returning `201`.

### Failing webhooks

> - Introduced in GitLab 13.12 [with a flag](../../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `web_hooks_disable_failed`. Disabled by default.
> - [Enabled on GitLab.com](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/329849) in GitLab 14.9.

FLAG:
On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available,
ask an administrator to [enable the feature flag](../../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `web_hooks_disable_failed`.
The feature is not ready for production use.

If a webhook fails repeatedly, it may be disabled automatically.

Webhooks that return response codes in the `5xx` range are understood to be failing
intermittently, and are temporarily disabled. This lasts initially
for 10 minutes. If the hook continues to fail, the back-off period is
extended on each retry, up to a maximum disabled period of 24 hours.

Webhooks that return failure codes in the `4xx` range are understood to be
misconfigured, and these are disabled until you manually re-enable
them. These webhooks are not automatically retried.

See [troubleshooting](#troubleshoot-webhooks) for information on
how to see if a webhook is disabled, and how to re-enable it.

## Test a webhook

You can trigger a webhook manually, to ensure it's working properly. You can also send
a test request to re-enable a [disabled webhook](#re-enable-disabled-webhooks).

For example, to test `push events`, your project should have at least one commit. The webhook uses this commit in the webhook.

To test a webhook:

1. In your project, on the left sidebar, select **Settings > Webhooks**.
1. Scroll down to the list of configured webhooks.
1. From the **Test** dropdown list, select the type of event to test.

You can also test a webhook from its edit page.

![Webhook testing](img/webhook_testing.png)

## Create an example webhook receiver

To test how GitLab webhooks work, you can use
an echo script running in a console session. For the following script to
work you must have Ruby installed.

1. Save the following file as `print_http_body.rb`:

   ```ruby
   require 'webrick'

   server = WEBrick::HTTPServer.new(:Port => ARGV.first)
   server.mount_proc '/' do |req, res|
     puts req.body
   end

   trap 'INT' do
     server.shutdown
   end
   server.start
   ```

1. Choose an unused port (for example, `8000`) and start the script:

   ```shell
   ruby print_http_body.rb 8000
   ```

1. In GitLab, add your webhook receiver as `http://my.host:8000/`.

1. Select **Test**. You should see something like this in the console:

   ```plaintext
   {"before":"077a85dd266e6f3573ef7e9ef8ce3343ad659c4e","after":"95cd4a99e93bc4bbabacfa2cd10e6725b1403c60",<SNIP>}
   example.com - - [14/May/2014:07:45:26 EDT] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 200 0
   - -> /
   ```

NOTE:
You may need to [allow requests to the local network](../../../security/webhooks.md) for this
receiver to be added.

## Validate payloads by using a secret token

You can specify a secret token to validate received payloads.
The token is sent with the hook request in the
`X-Gitlab-Token` HTTP header. Your webhook endpoint can check the token to verify
that the request is legitimate.

## Filter push events by branch

Push events can be filtered by branch using a branch name or wildcard pattern
to limit which push events are sent to your webhook endpoint. By default,
all push events are sent to your webhook endpoint. You can configure branch filtering
in the [webhook settings](#configure-a-webhook-in-gitlab) in your project.

## How image URLs are displayed in the webhook body

Relative image references are rewritten to use an absolute URL
in the body of a webhook.
For example, if an image, merge request, comment, or wiki page includes the
following image reference:

```markdown
![image](/uploads/$sha/image.png)
```

If:

- GitLab is installed at `gitlab.example.com`.
- The project is at `example-group/example-project`.

The reference is rewritten in the webhook body as follows:

```markdown
![image](https://gitlab.example.com/example-group/example-project/uploads/$sha/image.png)
```

Image URLs are not rewritten if:

- They already point to HTTP, HTTPS, or
  protocol-relative URLs.
- They use advanced Markdown features like link labels.

## Events

For more information about supported events for Webhooks, go to [Webhook events](webhook_events.md).

## Troubleshoot webhooks

GitLab records the history of each webhook request.
You can view requests made in the last 2 days in the **Recent events** table.

To view the table:

1. In your project, on the left sidebar, select **Settings > Webhooks**.
1. Scroll down to the webhooks.
1. Each [failing webhook](#failing-webhooks) has a badge listing it as:

   - **Failed to connect** if it is misconfigured, and needs manual intervention to re-enable it.
   - **Fails to connect** if it is temporarily disabled and will retry later.
  
   ![Badges on failing webhooks](img/failed_badges.png)

1. Select **Edit** for the webhook you want to view.

The table includes the following details about each request:

- HTTP status code (green for `200`-`299` codes, red for the others, and `internal error` for failed deliveries)
- Triggered event
- Elapsed time of the request
- Relative time for when the request was made

![Recent deliveries](img/webhook_logs.png)

NOTE:
The **Recent events** table is unavailable for group-level webhooks. For more information, read
[issue #325642](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/325642).

Each webhook event has a corresponding **Details** page. This page details the data that GitLab sent (request headers and body) and received (response headers and body).
To view the **Details** page, select **View details** for the webhook event.

To repeat the delivery with the same data, select **Resend Request**.

NOTE:
If you update the URL or secret token of the webhook, data is delivered to the new address.

### Webhook fails or multiple webhook requests are triggered

When GitLab sends a webhook, it expects a response in 10 seconds by default.
If the endpoint doesn't send an HTTP response in those 10 seconds,
GitLab may assume the webhook failed and retry it.

If your webhooks are failing or you are receiving multiple requests,
an administrator can try changing the default timeout value
by uncommenting or adding the following setting in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

```ruby
gitlab_rails['webhook_timeout'] = 10
```

### Unable to get local issuer certificate

When SSL verification is enabled, you might get an error that GitLab cannot
verify the SSL certificate of the webhook endpoint.
Typically, this error occurs because the root certificate isn't
issued by a trusted certification authority as
determined by [CAcert.org](http://www.cacert.org/).

If that is not the case, consider using [SSL Checker](https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html) to identify faults.
Missing intermediate certificates are common causes of verification failure.

### Re-enable disabled webhooks

If a webhook is failing, a banner displays at the top of the edit page explaining
why it is disabled, and when it will be automatically re-enabled. For example:

![A banner for a failing webhook, warning it failed to connect and will retry in 60 minutes](img/failed_banner.png)

In the case of a failed webhook, an error banner is displayed:

![A banner for a failed webhook, showing an error state, and explaining how to re-enable it](img/failed_banner_error.png)

To re-enable a failing or failed webhook, [send a test request](#test-a-webhook). If the test
request succeeds, the webhook is re-enabled.