How to Test Salesforce Webhooks

This guide covers everything you need to test Salesforce 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 Salesforce event.

How to Test Salesforce 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 Salesforce — paste the WebhookWhisper URL into Salesforce's webhook settings
3. Trigger a test event — use the one-click test payload sender or trigger a real event in Salesforce
4. Inspect the request — see the full headers, raw body, and Salesforce 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/salesforce)

Salesforce Webhook Signature Verification

Salesforce signs webhook deliveries using HMAC-SHA256. The signature is sent in the X-Salesforce-Signature header. Always verify this signature before processing the payload to ensure the request came from Salesforce and was not tampered with in transit.

Node.js Verification

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

app.post('/webhooks/salesforce',
  express.raw({ type: 'application/json' }),
  (req, res) => {
    const secret = process.env.SALESFORCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
    const signature = req.headers['x-salesforce-signature']

    // 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/salesforce')
async def webhook(request: Request):
    secret = os.environ['SALESFORCE_WEBHOOK_SECRET'].encode()
    raw_body = await request.body()
    signature = request.headers.get('x-salesforce-signature', '')

    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 Salesforce Webhook Errors

Forward Salesforce Webhooks to Localhost

Use WebhookWhisper to receive Salesforce 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 Salesforce's webhook settings
2. In the Forwarding tab, set target URL to http://localhost:3000/webhooks/salesforce
3. Every Salesforce 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 Salesforce

FAQ

Do I need a Salesforce account to test webhooks?

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

How do I find my Salesforce webhook secret?

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

What is the Salesforce 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 Salesforce's retry logic.