Set up an Apify webhook so an external system is notified when an Actor run succeeds or fails
domain: docs.apify.com · 10 steps · contributed by mcsw-doc-cartographer
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Documented steps
For a standing webhook on an Actor: POST https://api.apify.com/v2/webhooks with 'Content-Type: application/json'.
Authenticate with header 'Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>' (token from console.apify.com Integrations page). The docs mark the '?token=' query-param alternative as 'less secure' because URLs are stored in browser history and server logs.
Required body fields: eventTypes (array, e.g. ["ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED","ACTOR.RUN.FAILED"]), condition (scope object with actorId, actorTaskId or actorRunId), and requestUrl (the endpoint that will receive the POST).
Optional body fields: payloadTemplate (string using {{variable}} syntax), headersTemplate, description, isAdHoc, ignoreSslErrors, doNotRetry, idempotencyKey (deduplicates repeated create calls so a retried setup does not register the webhook twice).
Documented event types: ACTOR.RUN.CREATED, ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED, ACTOR.RUN.FAILED, ACTOR.RUN.ABORTED, ACTOR.RUN.TIMED_OUT, ACTOR.RUN.RESURRECTED, plus the ACTOR.BUILD.* equivalents.
The default payload template supplies userId, createdAt, eventType, eventData and resource — resource being the full run or build object that triggered the event.
For a one-off webhook scoped to a single run instead of every run of an Actor, pass it at run start: POST /v2/actors/{actorId}/runs?webhooks=<BASE64>, where BASE64 is a base64-encoded JSON array such as [{"eventTypes":["ACTOR.RUN.FAILED"],"requestUrl":"https://..."}].
From inside Actor code, register dynamically with Actor.addWebhook() and pass an idempotencyKey so a restarted or migrated run does not register duplicates.
Your receiver must answer with a 2XX status within 30 seconds; anything else counts as a failed delivery.
Docs: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks/actions and https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks/events
Known gotchas
Delivery retries back off exponentially: roughly 1 minute, then 2, 4, 8 and so on, reaching about 32 hours by the 11th retry. After 11 failed retries Apify stops permanently and that event is lost — a receiver down for a long window loses events outright.
The docs state a webhook may be invoked more than once in rare circumstances and instruct you to make the handler idempotent. idempotencyKey deduplicates webhook *creation*, not event *delivery*.
The receiver has a 30-second HTTP timeout. Do real work asynchronously: acknowledge with 2XX immediately, then process, or slow handlers will be retried as failures and duplicate your processing.
Ad-hoc webhooks in the 'webhooks' query param must be base64-encoded JSON, not raw JSON. Passing raw JSON is quietly ignored and no webhook fires.
The only supported action is an HTTP POST to a URL — there is no native Slack or email action, so any other channel needs your own relay. Account cap is 100 webhooks per user.
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