Shopify Webhook Testing

1. Local app setup

Create a local webhook endpoint at: /webhooks/shopify

import express from 'express'
import crypto from 'crypto'

const app = express()
app.post('/webhooks/shopify', express.raw({ type: 'application/json' }), (req, res) => {
  const hmac = req.header('x-shopify-hmac-sha256') || ''
  const rawBody = req.body as Buffer
  const digest = crypto
    .createHmac('sha256', process.env.SHOPIFY_WEBHOOK_SECRET!)
    .update(rawBody)
    .digest('base64')

  const hmacBuf = Buffer.from(hmac)
  const digestBuf = Buffer.from(digest)
  const valid = hmacBuf.length === digestBuf.length && crypto.timingSafeEqual(hmacBuf, digestBuf)

  if (!valid) {
    return res.status(401).send('invalid hmac')
  }

  console.log('shopify topic:', req.header('x-shopify-topic'))
  res.status(200).send('ok')
})

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('listening on :3000'))

2. Run InstaTunnel command

instatunnel 3000 --subdomain shopify-dev

Keep a fixed subdomain so your provider dashboard URL does not keep changing.

3. Provider config fields to paste

Use the helper below to generate exact values with your chosen subdomain and path.

4. Send test event

1. In Shopify Admin webhook settings, click "Send test notification".
2. For app webhooks, use Shopify CLI trigger commands in a dev store.
3. Confirm your endpoint logs topic, shop domain, and a 2xx response.

# Shopify CLI example (event names vary by app setup)
shopify app webhook trigger --topic orders/create

5. Verify signature

Verify this header on every request: x-shopify-hmac-sha256

const digest = crypto
  .createHmac('sha256', process.env.SHOPIFY_WEBHOOK_SECRET!)
  .update(rawPayloadBuffer)
  .digest('base64')

const valid = Buffer.from(req.header('x-shopify-hmac-sha256') || '').length === Buffer.from(digest).length &&
  crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(req.header('x-shopify-hmac-sha256') || ''), Buffer.from(digest))
if (!valid) return res.status(401).send('invalid hmac')

6. Retries and idempotency

• Use webhook ID + topic + timestamp as dedupe keys.
• Process asynchronously and return 200 quickly.
• Treat webhook deliveries as at-least-once and potentially out-of-order.

7. Common failures and quick fixes