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Webhooks & Events

This page is the fast decision guide for Centrali's event surfaces. The same business event can enter Centrali from the outside, trigger code inside the platform, or leave the platform as an outbound notification.

Use this page when you need to decide which event surface fits the job before you dive into the detailed guides.

Choose the Right Surface

If you need to... Start here Why
Receive an event from Stripe, GitHub, Clerk, Shopify, or another external sender Webhook Ingestion HTTP triggers are the async inbound entry surface
Run code when a record changes, on a schedule, on demand, or through a synchronous API Triggers Triggers decide when a function runs
Notify a system outside Centrali after something happens in your workspace Webhooks Outbound webhooks are the send step with signed delivery, retries, and replay
Return a computed result directly to the caller Triggers Endpoints are synchronous request/response APIs, not queued webhook ingestion

The Three Main Patterns

Trigger on Centrali Events

Use Triggers when you want Centrali to run a compute function because something happened inside the platform, such as a record being created or a schedule firing.

Receive Inbound Webhooks

Use Webhook Ingestion when an external service needs to call Centrali. This is the right path for providers like Stripe, GitHub, or custom systems that push events into your workspace.

Send Outbound Webhooks

Use Webhooks when Centrali needs to notify another system after activity happens in your workspace.

Same Event, Different Actions

One record event can drive several reactions at the same time:

Order record created
  -> event-driven trigger runs code inside Centrali
  -> automation branches into multi-step follow-up work
  -> outbound webhook notifies a downstream ERP or CRM

The distinction is not the record event itself. The distinction is where the work happens:

  • Use Triggers when code should run inside Centrali
  • Use Webhooks when another system should be notified outside Centrali

How to Decide

  • If the event starts outside Centrali and needs to enter your workspace, start with Webhook Ingestion.
  • If the event starts inside Centrali and should execute code, start with Triggers.
  • If the event starts inside Centrali and should notify another system, start with Webhooks.

Common Combinations

Receive -> Store -> React -> Send

This is the most common webhook-backed application flow:

  1. Webhook Ingestion receives a third-party event.
  2. A function stores the payload as a record.
  3. Triggers or Automations react inside Centrali.
  4. Webhooks notify downstream systems when needed.

React Without Inbound Webhooks

If the event already starts in Centrali, skip inbound ingestion:

  1. A record change or schedule fires a Trigger.
  2. A function or Automation runs.
  3. An Outbound Webhook optionally notifies another system.

Synchronous API Instead of Webhook Ingestion

If the caller needs an immediate response, do not use async webhook ingestion:

  1. Create an Endpoint trigger.
  2. Run a Function synchronously.
  3. Return the function result inline.