Terminology used in Webhooks

Event

A user action, system update, or any other occurrence in the source system or application. An event of a subscribed event type will trigger a webhook notification to be sent from the sender to the subscriber.

Event type

A type of event that a user may want to be notified of. Each event type has a fixed payload format, describing the format of the notification.

Notification

A real-time message sent when events occur. To receive a notification, the subscriber must have subscribed to the event type of the given event.

Payload

The payload is the data or information associated and sent with a webhook notification. It contains details about the event that triggered the notification. The payload is in JSON, matching the format described by the event type.

Sender

The sender is responsible for initiating the webhook notifications when events of specific subscribed event types occur. It generates the payload and sends it to the defined subscriber using the subscriber URL.

In Vonage Contact Center's (VCC) implementation of webhooks, VCC is the sender.

Signature

A unique string of characters generated from a signing key, the payload in a webhook notification, and a cryptographic algorithm. The signature is sent with the notification when signed webhooks are in use. A subscriber uses the signature and the signing key to verify that the notification has come from the sender and hasn’t been tampered with.

Signed webhook

A webhook notification with a signature enables the subscriber to verify its authenticity. Signed webhooks ensure data integrity and confirm the sender's legitimacy.

Signing key

A secret key shared between the sender (the system generating a webhook notification) and the subscriber (the system receiving the notification). This key can be provided by the subscriber or automatically generated. It is kept secret and known only to these two parties. It is used both when creating a signature for a signed webhook notification, and when verifying the authenticity of that notification.

Source

Identifies the context in which an event happened, such as an agent or channel.

Subscriber

The subscriber is responsible for registering interest in specific event types by providing the sender with a subscriber URL. When the subscribed event occurs, the sender delivers the webhook notification to the subscriber at the designated URL. The subscriber is then responsible for processing the notification based on its content.

Subscriber URL

The URL of the subscriber system or application where notifications are sent. Also known as the webhook endpoint.

Subscription

Subscriptions allow a user to specify the event types they want to be notified about and where notifications are sent.