Endpoints

An endpoint is a valid HTTP URL that can receive webhook events. It can be configured with a number of attributes which include an http timeout which denotes how long Convoy should wait for a response before timing out, an alert configuration setting which gives you the option to get notified when an endpoint’s status changes, a rate limit setting which allows you to match your consumers own rate limit, and an authentication setting which allows your consumer set an additional level of security on the endpoint.

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Endpoint State

An endpoint can have any of the states below:

• Active: This state means the endpoint is responding normally, and Convoy will continue to send events to it.
• Inactive: This means the endpoint has consecutively failed to process events. In this state, all new events will be set to the Discarded state and will not be sent to the endpoint. To re-activate the endpoint — retry any failed or discarded event delivery, if it’s successful, the endpoint will be set to active. Then you can batch retry all failed events that weren’t processed while the endpoint was inactive.
• Paused: In this state, the endpoint has been manually disabled to stop receiving events. All new events will be set to the Discarded state and will not be sent to the endpoint. To re-activate the endpoint, un-pause the endpoint, and it will be set to active.
• Pending: This state indicates that the endpoint was previously Inactive and a failed or discarded event delivery is being resent to the endpoint. If successful, the endpoint will be set to Active.

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Zero Downtime Key Rotation

Because webhooks rely on a shared secret that needs to be rotated periodically to be kept safe, Convoy ships with a mechanism for zero downtime key rotation which is crucial for webhooks as it ensures continuous and secure operations. It facilitates regular cryptographic key rotations, mitigating risks associated with key compromises, while ensuring there’s no service interruption, which is vital for real-time processing of webhooks events. It also aids in meeting regulatory compliance, maintaining clear audit trails, and can be automated to reduce operational burdens of key rotations. Additionally, it fosters customer trust by showcasing a commitment to security and service availability,

This can be triggered from both the API — this endpoint and the dashboard, see below:

Once the secret is expired, conovy will send more than one message digest pending the full expiration of the old secret. You can learn more about signatures

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Endpoint authentication

Endpoint authentication is a scenario where the endpoint owner needs to specify an authentication mechanism separate from signatures to validate the webhook origin. New and existing endpoints can now require an API Key to authenticate against the endpoint. In the future, we hope to support more authentication mechanisms.

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Endpoint Owner ID

Endpoint Owner ID is a unique ID for identifying a group of endpoints. It is useful for fanning out an event to multiple endpoints and creating portal link for multiple endpoints. It is typically set by you, the user and should have meaningful significance within your internal systems, serving the purpose of logically grouping endpoints.

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Portal Links

A Portal Link is used to generate a consumer-facing dashboard to display information on an endpoint’s event deliveries. The portal link serves as a medium to quickly generate portals for users to review and debug events from a publisher. You can generate one time links via the dashboard or long-use links to be embedded in your dashboards via the API. To learn more, click here