Webhook Tester

Devtools toolkit for tracking and managing webhook testing operations. Log checks, validations, linting results, diffs, and reports — all with timestamped history and multi-format export.

Commands

All data commands accept optional input. Without input, they display the 20 most recent entries. With input, they log a new timestamped entry.

Core Operations

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | webhook-tester check [input] | Log or view check entries — record webhook check results | | webhook-tester validate [input] | Log or view validate entries — track payload validation | | webhook-tester generate [input] | Log or view generate entries — track payload generation | | webhook-tester format [input] | Log or view format entries — record formatting operations | | webhook-tester lint [input] | Log or view lint entries — track linting results | | webhook-tester explain [input] | Log or view explain entries — record explanations and notes | | webhook-tester convert [input] | Log or view convert entries — track format conversions | | webhook-tester template [input] | Log or view template entries — track template operations | | webhook-tester diff [input] | Log or view diff entries — record payload comparisons | | webhook-tester preview [input] | Log or view preview entries — track preview operations | | webhook-tester fix [input] | Log or view fix entries — document applied fixes | | webhook-tester report [input] | Log or view report entries — record generated reports |

Utility Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | webhook-tester stats | Show summary statistics: entry counts per category, total entries, data size, and earliest record date | | webhook-tester export <fmt> | Export all data in json, csv, or txt format to the data directory | | webhook-tester search <term> | Search across all log files for a term (case-insensitive) | | webhook-tester recent | Show the 20 most recent entries from the activity history log | | webhook-tester status | Health check: version, data directory, total entries, disk usage, last activity | | webhook-tester help | Show full command listing | | webhook-tester version | Print version string (webhook-tester v2.0.0) |

Data Storage

All data is stored locally in ~/.local/share/webhook-tester/:

Per-command logs: check.log, validate.log, lint.log, diff.log, etc. — one file per command type
History log: history.log — unified activity log with timestamps
Export files: export.json, export.csv, export.txt — generated on demand
Format: Each entry is stored as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM|<input> (pipe-delimited)

Set the WEBHOOK_TESTER_DIR environment variable to override the default data directory.

Requirements

bash (with set -euo pipefail strict mode)
Standard Unix tools: date, wc, du, head, tail, grep, basename, cat
No external dependencies or API keys required

When to Use

Tracking webhook validation results — Log validation outcomes for payloads from Stripe, GitHub, Slack, etc. and review patterns over time
Recording lint and format checks — Use lint and format to track payload quality checks during integration development
Documenting webhook fixes and debugging — Use fix, explain, and diff to maintain a structured record of debugging sessions
Comparing webhook payloads across versions — Use diff and compare to log differences between expected and actual payloads during schema migrations
Exporting test records for compliance — Pull all logged data into JSON, CSV, or TXT for QA sign-off, audit trails, or integration documentation

Examples

# Log a webhook validation result
webhook-tester validate "Stripe checkout.session.completed — signature verified OK"

# Record a linting result
webhook-tester lint "GitHub push event payload: missing 'ref' field in 3 of 12 test cases"

# Log a diff between expected and actual payloads
webhook-tester diff "v2 vs v3 payload: added 'metadata.source' field, removed 'legacy_id'"

# Document a fix applied to a webhook handler
webhook-tester fix "added retry logic for 429 responses from payment gateway"

# View recent check entries
webhook-tester check

# Search for entries related to a specific integration
webhook-tester search "Stripe"

# Get summary statistics across all categories
webhook-tester stats

# Export everything to JSON for analysis
webhook-tester export json

# Check tool health and data directory status
webhook-tester status

# View the 20 most recent activity entries
webhook-tester recent

How It Works

Webhook Tester uses a simple append-only log architecture. Each command type writes to its own .log file, and all activity is also appended to a central history.log for chronological tracking. The stats command aggregates counts across all log files. The export command reads all logs and serializes them into the requested format (JSON array, CSV with headers, or plain text sections). The search command performs case-insensitive grep across all log files.