# Webhooks
Polar sends webhook events to your application when things happen in your
account — checkouts are completed, subscriptions renew, orders are paid, etc.
This guide covers receiving, verifying, and handling those events.
## How It Works
Polar uses the [Standard Webhooks](https://github.com/standard-webhooks/standard-webhooks)
specification. Each webhook request includes three HTTP headers:
| Header | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `webhook-id` | Unique message identifier (for deduplication) |
| `webhook-timestamp` | Unix epoch seconds when the event was sent |
| `webhook-signature` | HMAC-SHA256 signature (`v1,<base64>`) |
The signature is computed over `"{webhook-id}.{webhook-timestamp}.{body}"` using
your webhook secret as the HMAC key.
## WebhookPlug
`PolarExpress.WebhookPlug` handles the full lifecycle — reading the raw body,
verifying the signature, deserializing the event, and assigning it to
`conn.assigns.polar_express_event`.
### Setup
First, configure your webhook secret (see [Getting Started](getting-started.md)):
```elixir
# config/runtime.exs
config :polar_express,
webhook_secret: System.fetch_env!("POLAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET")
```
Then add the plug to your endpoint **before** `Plug.Parsers` (which consumes
the raw body):
```elixir
# lib/my_app_web/endpoint.ex
plug PolarExpress.WebhookPlug,
path: "/webhook/polar"
# This must come AFTER WebhookPlug
plug Plug.Parsers,
parsers: [:urlencoded, :multipart, :json],
json_decoder: JSON
```
The secret is read automatically from `config :polar_express, :webhook_secret`.
### Per-Plug Secret Override
If you have multiple webhook endpoints with different secrets, override
per-plug:
```elixir
plug PolarExpress.WebhookPlug,
secret: "whsec_other",
path: "/webhook/polar/org"
```
Or use an MFA tuple for runtime resolution:
```elixir
plug PolarExpress.WebhookPlug,
secret: {MyApp.Config, :polar_webhook_secret, []},
path: "/webhook/polar/org"
```
### Options
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|--------|------|---------|-------------|
| `:secret` | `String.t()` or `{mod, fun, args}` | from config | Webhook signing secret |
| `:path` | `String.t()` | required | Request path to match |
| `:tolerance` | `integer()` | `300` | Maximum event age in seconds |
### Handling Events
On successful verification, the event is available at
`conn.assigns.polar_express_event`. Route to a controller or plug pipeline to
handle it:
```elixir
# lib/my_app_web/router.ex
scope "/webhook" do
post "/polar", MyAppWeb.PolarWebhookController, :handle
end
```
```elixir
# lib/my_app_web/controllers/polar_webhook_controller.ex
defmodule MyAppWeb.PolarWebhookController do
use MyAppWeb, :controller
def handle(conn, _params) do
event = conn.assigns.polar_express_event
case event.type do
"checkout.created" ->
process_checkout(event.data)
"order.paid" ->
fulfill_order(event.data)
"subscription.created" ->
handle_subscription(event.data)
_ ->
:ok
end
send_resp(conn, 200, "ok")
end
end
```
### Verification Failures
If the signature is invalid or the timestamp is stale, `WebhookPlug` responds
with `400 Bad Request` and halts the connection. Your downstream plugs and
controllers are never invoked.
## Manual Verification
If you need to verify webhooks outside of a Plug pipeline, use
`PolarExpress.Webhook.construct_event/4` directly:
```elixir
headers = %{
"webhook-id" => get_req_header(conn, "webhook-id") |> List.first(),
"webhook-timestamp" => get_req_header(conn, "webhook-timestamp") |> List.first(),
"webhook-signature" => get_req_header(conn, "webhook-signature") |> List.first()
}
case PolarExpress.Webhook.construct_event(raw_body, headers, "whsec_...") do
{:ok, event} -> handle_event(event)
{:error, error} -> send_resp(conn, 400, error.message)
end
```
## Typed Event Modules
Webhook events have dedicated modules with typed data structs:
```elixir
alias PolarExpress.Events.OrderCreated
# Each event module exposes the Polar event type string
OrderCreated.lookup_type()
#=> "order.created"
# Events have typed nested data structs
%OrderCreated{
data: %OrderCreated.Data{}
}
```
## Tips
- **Always return 200 quickly.** Process events asynchronously (e.g. via
`Task.Supervisor` or an Oban job) to avoid timeouts.
- **Handle duplicates.** Polar may send the same event more than once. Use
the `webhook-id` header as an idempotency key.
- **Use the webhook signing secret from the Polar Dashboard**, not your API
key. Each webhook endpoint has its own secret.