Sending Webhooks in Go
Dec 10, 2022Webhooks are a powerful tool for automating tasks and integrating applications. In a nutshell, a webhook is a way for one application to provide real-time information to another application by making a HTTP request to a specified URL. In this article, we'll look at how to send webhooks in Go.

First, let's define a few terms that are commonly used when discussing webhooks:
- The sender is the application that sends the webhook.
- The receiver is the application that receives the webhook.
- The event is the action that triggers the webhook. For example, when a user signs up for a service, an event is triggered and a webhook is sent.
To send a webhook in Go, we'll need to use the net/http
library. This library provides a convenient way to make HTTP requests in Go.
Here is an example of how to send a webhook in Go:
package main import ( "bytes" "encoding/json" "net/http" ) type WebhookData struct { Event string `json:"event"` UserID int `json:"user_id"` } func main() { webhookURL := "https://www.example.com/webhook" data := WebhookData{ Event: "user_signed_up", UserID: 12345, } jsonData, err := json.Marshal(data) if err != nil { panic(err) } resp, err := http.Post(webhookURL, "application/json", bytes.NewBuffer(jsonData)) if err != nil { panic(err) } defer resp.Body.Close() }
In the code above, we first define a WebhookData
struct that represents the data we want to send in the webhook. This struct has two fields: Event
and UserID
.
Next, we define the main function where the webhook will be sent. We first define the URL of the webhook receiver as a variable called webhookURL
.
We then create an instance of the WebhookData
struct and populate its fields with the appropriate data. In this case, we're sending information about a user_signed_up
event and the user_id
of the user who signed up.
Next, we use the json.Marshal()
function to convert the WebhookData
struct into a JSON string. This is necessary because webhooks are typically sent as JSON data.
Finally, we use the http.Post()
method to make a POST request to the webhook receiver. We pass in the webhookURL, the Content-Type
header, and the JSON data as arguments to the method. This will send the webhook to the receiver.
That's all there is to it! With just a few lines of code, you can easily send webhooks in Go. This can be a powerful tool for integrating applications and automating tasks.