Send webhooks in Zaps

• In the Zap editor, click the + icon to add a new step.
• Search for and select Webhooks by Zapier.
• Click the Choose Action Event dropdown menu. The Webhooks app offers the POST, PUT, and GET methods, which include automatic data parsing.

Use the POST or PUT methods if your use case involves the following:

• Sending files (file objects cannot be sent via Custom Request)
• You're not comfortable writing raw JSON or XML and would prefer the Zap to parse the data for you.

The Webhooks app also offers a Custom Request option. That is much more customizable and allows you to type out raw JSON or XML, but is also much less forgiving - unlike the POST, PUT, and GET templates, it does not automatically parse data for you.

Use the Custom Request option if your use case involves the following:

• The PATCH or DELETE HTTP methods
• Sending a nested JSON array
• Sending empty values
• Extremely customized Headers

When you're done, click Continue.

To make sure the request is sent in the way your app expects, make sure you have selected the proper Payload Type from the dropdown menu.

There are three common serialization formats that you will see listed here: form-encoded, JSON, and XML. Match the Payload Type field to the format your app requires. Below are examples of each, respectively:

Form-encoded:

first_name=Bryan&last_name=Helmig&age=27

JSON:

{
  "first_name": "Bryan",
   "last_name": "Helmig",
   "age": 27
}

XML:

<first_name>Bryan</first_name>
<last_name>Helmig</last_name>
<age>27</age>

In the URL field, enter the URL where your app’s API is able to receive requests.

It's recommended not to add URL parameters in the URL field. Instead, enter URL parameters in the Data fields, and select Form Encoded as the Payload Type.

Fill out the Data section. If you’re using a templated request method like PUT, POST, or GET (i.e. not a Custom Request), enter the field key/label on the left, and the field value on the right. You can use the “+” button to insert field values from previous steps as needed.

If you need to add nested values, you can define child objects with the double underscore syntax. An example of how you might enter that into the Data section is below, with the | indicating the split between the left-hand and right-hand fields:

root | value
child__extra | value
child__other | value

That will turn into JSON that looks like this:

{"root": "value", "child": {"extra": "value", "other": "value"}}

If you need more detailed nesting, use a Custom Request instead.

If you’re using a Custom Request, type raw JSON (or other formats) directly into the Data field. Zapier will not parse or format this data for you; it will be sent exactly as entered, so use a JSON (or other) validator if you’re not certain of syntax.

If your app requires specific Headers, add those to the Headers section.

If your app requires authentication, you can also set up Basic authentication (involving just a username and password, or username and API key) via the Basic Auth section.

If your app requires more advanced authentication options, it's recommended to build a dev app on the developer platform instead.

If your app does not have an API that’s ready to catch Zapier requests, catching and interpreting the webhooks sent by a Zap can be tricky. If you're trying to use the Webhooks app to send payloads to an app Zapier does not support, which you do not own, you may run into insurmountable issues as Zapier's data field doesn't support complex structures (e.g. lists). In those situations, it's recommended to look into Zapier's developer platform.

However, if you're writing the code to catch the webhooks, you can refer to the examples below as a guide. With PHP, the easiest is likely form-encoded (Payload Type field set to "Form"):

<?php
echo $_POST['path_to_file'];
echo $_POST['file_size'];
echo $_POST['hello'];
?>

This is because if you set the Payload Type field to "JSON", you'll need to decode that JSON first, as shown below:

<?php 
$data = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'));
echo $data['path_to_file'];
echo $data['file_size'];
echo $data['hello'];
?>