Webhooks: an introduction
Webhooks are user-defined HTTP callbacks. They trigger when an event occurs in a web application and can help integrate different applications or third-party APIs, such as Twilio.
Twilio uses webhooks to notify your application when events occur, such as receiving an SMS message or getting an incoming phone call. When an event occurs, Twilio makes an HTTP POST or GET request to the URL you configured for the webhook. The Twilio request includes details of the event, such as the incoming phone number or the body of an incoming message. Many other modern web services like GitHub and Slack also make use of webhooks to communicate events.
Some webhooks are informational—for example, they can notify you when a voice-call recording is ready for download. Others require your web application to respond—for example, to tell Twilio what to do when someone calls your Twilio phone number.
Watch the following Twilio Tip video, and read the Getting started with Twilio webhooks guide.
Each Twilio product uses webhooks differently. To learn more about which webhooks each product uses and how to set them up with your application, visit these pages:
Webhooks aren't just limited to products. You can also have Twilio send you webhooks when events occur in your application. These events include billing levels reaching a threshold or errors that occur when Twilio calls your web application. You can set up a pipeline that sends your webhooks to Slack, Microsoft Teams, or another chat system. You can also set up a webhook that notifies you by email.
Learn more about each of these areas on these pages:
For an in-depth discussion of webhooks, guidance on validating that inbound webhooks originate from Twilio, and answers to common questions, see:
Follow these tutorials to implement webhooks and explore their capabilities: