How to Test Chargebee Webhooks

This guide covers everything you need to test Chargebee webhooks — how to inspect the raw payload, verify the signature, forward events to localhost, and reproduce any delivery in your local development environment without needing a real Chargebee event.

How to Test Chargebee Webhooks with WebhookWhisper

1. Create a free endpoint — click Create Live Endpoint above to get a permanent public HTTPS URL (no account required to try)
2. Register the URL in Chargebee — paste the WebhookWhisper URL into Chargebee's webhook settings
3. Trigger a test event — use the one-click test payload sender or trigger a real event in Chargebee
4. Inspect the request — see the full headers, raw body, and Chargebee signature header in real time
5. Forward to localhost — add a forwarding rule to relay the event to your local handler (e.g. http://localhost:3000/webhooks/chargebee)

Chargebee Webhook Signature Verification

Chargebee signs webhook deliveries using Basic Auth. The signature is sent in the Basic Auth header. Always verify this signature before processing the payload to ensure the request came from Chargebee and was not tampered with in transit.

Node.js Verification

const crypto = require('crypto')
const express = require('express')
const app = express()

app.post('/webhooks/chargebee',
  express.raw({ type: 'application/json' }),
  (req, res) => {
    const secret = process.env.CHARGEBEE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
    const signature = req.headers['basic auth']

    // Compute expected HMAC — always use raw body, never parsed JSON
    const expected = crypto
      .createHmac('sha256', secret)
      .update(req.body)
      .digest('hex')

    if (!crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(signature || ''), Buffer.from(expected))) {
      return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid signature' })
    }

    const event = JSON.parse(req.body)
    // Process event here — respond first, process async for slow operations
    res.json({ received: true })
  }
)

Python (FastAPI) Verification

import hashlib, hmac, os
from fastapi import FastAPI, Request, HTTPException

app = FastAPI()

@app.post('/webhooks/chargebee')
async def webhook(request: Request):
    secret = os.environ['CHARGEBEE_WEBHOOK_SECRET'].encode()
    raw_body = await request.body()
    signature = request.headers.get('basic auth', '')

    expected = hmac.new(secret, raw_body, hashlib.sha256).hexdigest()

    if not hmac.compare_digest(signature, expected):
        raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail='Invalid signature')

    payload = await request.json()
    return {'received': True}

Common Chargebee Webhook Errors

Forward Chargebee Webhooks to Localhost

Use WebhookWhisper to receive Chargebee webhook events at a public HTTPS URL and relay them to your local development server — no tunnel, no CLI install, no public server required.

1. Create a WebhookWhisper endpoint and paste it into Chargebee's webhook settings
2. In the Forwarding tab, set target URL to http://localhost:3000/webhooks/chargebee
3. Every Chargebee event appears in the inspector and hits your local handler simultaneously
4. Use event replay (Pro) to re-send any captured event without triggering a new action in Chargebee

FAQ

Do I need a Chargebee account to test webhooks?

No. WebhookWhisper includes a one-click Chargebee sample payload so you can fire a realistic test event and verify your handler without a Chargebee account or triggering a real Chargebee action.

How do I find my Chargebee webhook secret?

The webhook signing secret is shown in Chargebee's developer settings or webhook configuration page. Each webhook endpoint gets its own secret — do not share secrets between endpoints.

What is the Chargebee webhook timeout?

Most providers timeout after 5–30 seconds. If your handler does slow operations (database writes, external API calls), respond with HTTP 200 immediately and process the event in a background job to avoid triggering Chargebee's retry logic.