Last updated: 2026-07-19
What Is a Webhook?
Definition
A webhook is a way for one application to send real-time data to another application when an event happens. Instead of polling an API every few minutes to check for changes, you register a URL, and the source application sends an HTTP POST request to that URL whenever the event occurs. Webhooks are "reverse APIs": the server calls you, instead of you calling the server.
Why it matters
Webhooks enable real-time integrations without polling overhead. In monitoring, webhooks let you trigger automations when alerts fire: post to Slack, create a Jira ticket, run a rollback script, or page the on-call engineer. Webhooks are the connective tissue of modern DevOps toolchains. Without them, every integration would need constant polling.
Example
A team configured a PingWatchdog webhook to trigger when any production monitor goes down. The webhook fires an HTTP POST to their internal automation server, which: posts a message in the #incidents Slack channel, creates a PagerDuty incident, and appends a row to their operations dashboard. All of this happens within seconds of the monitor detecting downtime.
How PingWatchdog helps
PingWatchdog supports webhooks as an alert channel. Every alert (down, up, degraded) can trigger a webhook POST with a JSON payload containing the monitor name, URL, error type, timestamp, and dashboard link. You can add custom HTTP headers for authentication. Webhooks are available on all PingWatchdog plans.