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Setting Up Webhooks

ShipEngine allows you to subscribe to webhooks to receive real-time updates for long-running asynchronous operations. This is useful because it allows your application to move on to other work while the operation is running rather than being blocked until it completes.

It also allows ShipEngine to push updates to your application rather than having your application continually poll for updates. For example, you may subscribe to the track webhook event to automatically receive an update anytime a tracking event occurs. Rather than continually sending a request to the /v1/labels/:label_id/track endpoint to see if the tracking information has been updated since the last time you checked, you can subscribe to the track webhook event and ShipEngine will push the notification to your application via a webhook whenever the tracking details are updated.

If you're new to webhooks, you can read this guide for more information.

Configuring Webhooks

Before you can begin receiving webhooks, you must configure your ShipEngine account with the HTTP endpoints you'd like for the webhooks to be sent to. You can do this through the ShipEngine Dashboard or through the API.

Configure Using the Dashboard

  1. Log in to the ShipEngine Dashboard.
  2. Go to Developer, then Webhooks.
  3. Click the Add New Webhook button.
  4. Select your Webhook Event and enter your Webhook URL. You can set up multiple URLs for the same Event.
  5. Click the green checkmark icon to save your webhook.
API Dashboard

Configure Using the API

To configure a webhook using the API, you'll need to provide a url and an event that will trigger the webhook. You'll send this data in an HTTP POST request to /v1/environments/webhooks. You may only configure one URL per event.

The payload for each type of webhook event will have a unique resource_type which indicates which type of event triggered the webhook. The event names you use in your payload when you configure a webhook through the API as well as the corresponding resource_type that will be sent in the webhook request for that event are listed below.

Descriptioneventresource_type
Batch completedbatchAPI_BATCH
Shipment rate updatedrateAPI_RATE
Any tracking eventtrackAPI_TRACK
Carrier connectedcarrier_connectedAPI_CARRIER_CONNECTED
Sales Orders imported (Beta)sales_orders_importedAPI_SALES_ORDERS_IMPORTED
Order Source refresh complete (Beta)order_source_refresh_completeAPI_ORDER_SOURCE_REFRESH_COMPLETE
A requested report is readyreport_completeAPI_REPORT_COMPLETE

Example Request

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POST /v1/environment/webhooks HTTP/1.1
Host: api.shipengine.com
API-Key: __YOUR_API_KEY_HERE__
Content-Type: application/json
{
    "url": "https://example.com/batch",
    "event": "batch"
}

Testing Webhooks

You can use a service like requestbin.com to create temporary URLs to test webhooks. Any HTTP requests sent to that endpoint will be recorded with the associated payload and headers so you can observe the data sent from our webhooks before configuring your application to accept it.

Webhook Payloads

These are example payloads for the types of webhooks you can subscribe to. You can expect to receive a message with the same structure as these examples whenever you subscribe to the corresponding event. You'll notice that each payload includes a resource_type and a resource_url. Some payloads will contain additional information as well.

Example Batch Event Payload

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/batches/se-1013119",
  "resource_type": "API_BATCH"
}

Example Track Event Payload

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/tracking?carrier_code=usps&tracking_number=9400111298370264401222",
  "resource_type": "API_TRACK",
  "data": {
    "label_url": null,
    "tracking_number": "9400111298370264401222",
    "status_code": "IT",
    "carrier_detail_code": null,
    "status_description": "In Transit",
    "carrier_status_code": "NT",
    "carrier_status_description": "Your package is moving within the USPS network and is on track to be delivered the expected delivery date. It is currently in transit to the next facility.",
    "ship_date": "2020-06-30T16:09:00",
    "estimated_delivery_date": "2020-07-06T00:00:00",
    "actual_delivery_date": null,
    "exception_description": null,
    "events": [
      {
        "occurred_at": "2020-07-02T00:00:00Z",
        "carrier_occurred_at": "2020-07-02T00:00:00",
        "description": "In Transit, Arriving On Time",
        "city_locality": "",
        "state_province": "",
        "postal_code": "",
        "country_code": "",
        "company_name": "",
        "signer": "",
        "event_code": "NT",
        "event_description": "In Transit, Arriving on Time",
        "carrier_detail_code": null,
        "status_code": null,
        "latitude": null,
        "longitude": null
      },
      {
        "occurred_at": "2020-06-30T20:09:00Z",
        "carrier_occurred_at": "2020-06-30T16:09:00",
        "description": "Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending",
        "city_locality": "VERSAILLES",
        "state_province": "KY",
        "postal_code": "40383",
        "country_code": "",
        "company_name": "",
        "signer": "",
        "event_code": "TM",
        "event_description": "Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending",
        "carrier_detail_code": null,
        "status_code": null,
        "latitude": 37.8614,
        "longitude": -84.6646
      }
    ]
  }
}

Example Rate Event Payload

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/shipments/se-2120221/rates",
  "resource_type": "API_RATE"
}

Example Carrier Connected Event Payload

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/carriers/se-1234",
  "resource_type": "API_CARRIER_CONNECTED"
}

Example Sales Order Imported Event Payload (Beta)

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/v-beta/sales_orders",
  "resource_type": "API_SALES_ORDERS_IMPORTED",
  "data": [
  {
    "sales_order_id": "2078df4d-49c1-53da-837a-ad2781b782e0",
    "external_order_id": "611699195963",
    "external_order_number": "SH21622",
    "order_source":
      {
        "order_source_id": "4e4af80f-6974-48b6-b88f-e46f1c2a0b28",
        "order_source_nickname": "Shippity Shop Shopify",
        "order_source_code": "shopify",
        "order_source_friendly_name": "Shopify",
        "refresh_info":
        {
          "status": "idle",
          "last_refresh_attempt": "2018-09-12T19:29:21.657Z",
          "refresh_date": "2018-09-12T19:29:16.837Z"
        },
        "active": true
      },
      "sales_order_status":
      {
        "payment_status": "paid",
        "fulfillment_status": "unfulfilled",
        "is_cancelled": false
      },
      "order_date": "2018-09-12T19:18:12Z",
      "created_at": "2018-09-12T19:29:18.69Z",
      "modified_at": "2018-09-12T19:29:18.69Z",
      "payment_details":
      {
        "subtotal":
        {
          "currency": "usd",
          "amount": 40.0
        },
        "estimated_shipping":
        {
          "currency": "usd",
          "amount": 0.0
        },
        "estimated_tax":
        {
          "currency": "usd",
          "amount": 0.0
        },
        "grand_total":
        {
          "currency": "usd",
          "amount": 40.0
        }
      },
      "customer":
      {
        "name": "Amanda Miller",
        "phone": "555-555-5555",
        "email": "[email protected]"
      },
      "bill_to":
      {
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "address":
        {
          "name": null,
          "phone": null,
          "company_name": null,
          "address_line1": "",
          "address_line2": null,
          "address_line3": null,
          "city_locality": null,
          "state_province": null,
          "postal_code": null,
          "country_code": null,
          "address_residential_indicator": "no"
        }
      },
      "ship_to":
      {
        "name": "Amanda Miller",
        "phone": "555-555-5555",
        "address_line1": "525 S Winchester Blvd",
        "city_locality": "San Jose",
        "state_province": "CA",
        "postal_code": "95128",
        "country_code": "US",
        "address_residential_indicator": "yes"
      },
      "sales_order_items": [
      {
        "sales_order_item_id": "6f8f3f51-7a5a-50b2-a842-d6e89a5b5b26",
        "line_item_details":
        {
          "name": "Bubble Popper 4XL",
          "sku": "BUB-1-T",
          "weight":
          {
            "value": 2.8,
            "unit": "ounce"
          }
        },
        "ship_to":
        {
          "name": "Amanda Miller",
          "phone": "555-555-5555",
          "address_line1": "525 S Winchester Blvd",
          "city_locality": "San Jose",
          "state_province": "CA",
          "postal_code": "95128",
          "country_code": "US",
          "address_residential_indicator": "yes"
        },
        "requested_shipping_options":
        {
          "shipping_service": null,
          "ship_date": null
        },
        "price_summary":
        {
          "unit_price":
          {
            "currency": "usd",
            "amount": 40.0
          },
          "estimated_tax":
          {
            "currency": "usd",
            "amount": 0.0
          },
          "estimated_shipping": null,
          "total":
          {
            "currency": "usd",
            "amount": 40.0
          }
        },
        "quantity": 1,
        "is_gift": false
      }]
  }]
}

Example Order Source Refresh Complete Event (Beta)

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/v-beta/stores/se-0bdf1f26-5708-4e0b-a548-fd2a5720779f",
  "resource_type": "API_ORDER_SOURCE_REFRESH_COMPLETE"
}

Example Report Complete Event Payload

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{
  "resource_url": "https://api.shipengine.com/adjustments/se-0bdf1f26-5708-4e0b-a548-fd2a5720779f",
  "resource_type": "API_REPORT_COMPLETE"
}