---
title: "Webhook Architecture Diagram: How Webhooks Flow End to End"
meta:
  "og:description": "A clear webhook architecture diagram — from the sender that emits an event to the endpoint that receives it, plus queues, retries and signature checks."
  "og:title": "Webhook Architecture Diagram: How Webhooks Flow End to End"
  description: "A clear webhook architecture diagram — from the sender that emits an event to the endpoint that receives it, plus queues, retries and signature checks."
---

![Stripes](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/images/stripes.svg)

# **Webhook Architecture Diagram: How Webhooks Flow End to End**

A clear webhook architecture diagram — from the sender that emits an event to the endpoint that receives it, plus queues, retries and signature checks.

Webhooks are simple in principle — one server POSTs to another when something happens — but a reliable webhook system has a few more moving parts than people expect. This is the **webhook architecture**, from the event that starts it to the handler that finishes it. (New to the concept? Start with [what is a webhook](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/what-is-webhook/).)

## [The basic webhook architecture](#the-basic-webhook-architecture)

At its core, every webhook flows the same way:

```
┌────────────┐   event happens   ┌──────────────┐   HTTP POST    ┌──────────────┐
│  Sender    │ ────────────────► │  Webhook      │ ─────────────► │  Your public │
│ (provider) │                   │  (HTTP POST)  │                │  endpoint    │
└────────────┘                   └──────────────┘   200 OK  ◄──── └──────┬───────┘
                                                                          │ enqueue
                                                                          ▼
                                                                   ┌──────────────┐
                                                                   │  Your queue  │
                                                                   │  + workers   │
                                                                   └──────────────┘
```

1. **The sender** (Stripe, GitHub, Twilio…) detects an event.
2. It makes an **HTTP POST** to the URL you registered, carrying headers (content type, an event-type header, a signature) and a JSON body.
3. **Your endpoint** receives it, returns a fast **2xx** to acknowledge, and hands the payload to a **queue** so a worker can process it without holding up the response.

### [The components](#the-components)

| Component | Role |
| --- | --- |
| **Sender / producer** | The provider that emits the event and POSTs the webhook |
| **HTTP request** | Method + URL, headers (incl. the signature), and the JSON payload |
| **Receiver endpoint** | The public URL that accepts the POST and returns `2xx` fast |
| **Signature verification** | Confirms the request is authentic (HMAC) before you trust it |
| **Queue + workers** | Absorbs bursts and processes events asynchronously |
| **Retry logic** | Re-delivers events your endpoint couldn't accept |

## [Production-grade webhook architecture](#production-grade-webhook-architecture)

The basic flow works until real traffic hits it — a deploy drops events, a spike overwhelms a fragile service, a forged request slips through, or you need the same event in three systems. A production webhook architecture puts a **[webhook gateway](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/webhook-gateway/)** between the sender and your services to handle exactly that:

- **[Signature verification](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/webhook-authentication/)** so only genuine events are processed.
- **[Durable retries](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/features/durable-retries/)** so an event survives an outage or a deploy — persisted and retried for up to 30 days.
- **[Throttling](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/features/throttling/)** and a queue so a burst becomes a steady, survivable stream.
- **[Fan-out to multiple destinations](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/features/webhook-multiple-destinations/)** so one event reaches your API, a backup and an analytics sink at once.
- **[Delivery logs](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/features/webhook-logs/)** so you can see, inspect and replay every delivery.

![A production webhook architecture with Webhook Relay as the gateway](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/images/webhookrelay_basic_diagram.png)

## [Webhook architecture for local development](#webhook-architecture-for-local-development)

There's one more architecture worth drawing: **receiving webhooks during development**. Providers can only POST to public URLs, but your handler runs on `localhost` or inside a private network. A reverse tunnel closes the gap:

```
Provider ──POST──► Webhook Relay (stable public URL) ──► relay agent (outbound) ──► localhost:3000
```

The [relay agent](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/webhooks/) connects **outbound**, so events reach your machine with no public IP and no open firewall ports — and the URL stays fixed so you configure the provider once. See [how to test webhooks](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/how-to-test-webhooks/).

## [Build the diagram into something real](#build-the-diagram-into-something-real)

- [What is a webhook](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/what-is-webhook/) — the anatomy of a single request.
- [Webhooks vs API](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/webhooks-vs-api/) and [webhook vs WebSocket](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/webhook-vs-websocket/) — where webhooks fit.
- [Webhook security best practices](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/blog/webhook-security/) — verification, secrets and idempotency.

Want to watch a real request flow through this architecture? [Open a free Webhook Bin](https://webhookrelay.com/blog/webhook-architecture-diagram/webhook-bin/) and send it a webhook, or [start forwarding to localhost for free](https://my.webhookrelay.com/register).