Webhooks

Webhooks allow your application to receive real-time notifications when events occur in your Timelines Global workspace—like new messages, sent messages, or chat updates.

How webhooks work

You create a webhook subscription

Tell Timelines Global which events you care about and where to send them

An event occurs

A new message arrives, a message is sent, etc.

Timelines Global sends a POST request

Your endpoint receives the event data in real-time

Your app processes the event

Respond with 2xx status within 5 seconds

Available events

Event	Trigger
`message:received:new`	New incoming message
`message:sent:new`	Message sent successfully
`chat:created`	New chat created

See the full event list for all available events.

Creating a webhook

curl -X POST "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "event_type": "message:received:new",
    "url": "https://your-app.com/webhooks/timelines",
    "enabled": true
  }'

Response:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "data": {
    "id": 7654321,
    "event_type": "message:received:new",
    "url": "https://your-app.com/webhooks/timelines",
    "enabled": true,
    "errors_counter": 0
  }
}

Webhook endpoint requirements

Your endpoint must:

Be publicly accessible (no localhost)

Use HTTPS

Respond with 2xx status within 5 seconds

Accept POST requests with JSON body

Handling webhook events

Example: Node.js / Express

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

app.use(express.json());

app.post('/webhooks/timelines', (req, res) => {
  const event = req.body;
  
  console.log('Received event:', event.event_type);
  
  switch (event.event_type) {
    case 'message:received:new':
      handleNewMessage(event.data);
      break;
    case 'message:sent:new':
      handleSentMessage(event.data);
      break;
    default:
      console.log('Unknown event type');
  }
  
  // Always respond quickly with 200
  res.status(200).send('OK');
});

function handleNewMessage(data) {
  console.log(`New message from ${data.chat_name}: ${data.text}`);
  // Your logic here: save to database, notify team, auto-reply, etc.
}

function handleSentMessage(data) {
  console.log(`Message sent: ${data.message_uid}`);
}

app.listen(3000);

Example: Python / Flask

from flask import Flask, request, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/webhooks/timelines', methods=['POST'])
def handle_webhook():
    event = request.json
    
    print(f"Received event: {event['event_type']}")
    
    if event['event_type'] == 'message:received:new':
        handle_new_message(event['data'])
    elif event['event_type'] == 'message:sent:new':
        handle_sent_message(event['data'])
    
    # Always respond quickly
    return jsonify({'status': 'ok'}), 200

def handle_new_message(data):
    print(f"New message from {data['chat_name']}: {data.get('text', '')}")
    # Your logic here

def handle_sent_message(data):
    print(f"Message sent: {data['message_uid']}")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(port=3000)

Managing webhooks

List all webhooks

curl -X GET "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Get webhook details

curl -X GET "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks/7654321" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Update webhook

# Disable webhook
curl -X PUT "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks/7654321" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "enabled": false }'

# Change URL
curl -X PUT "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks/7654321" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "url": "https://new-endpoint.com/webhooks" }'

Delete webhook

curl -X DELETE "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks/7654321" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Error handling

Delivery failures

If your endpoint returns a non-2xx status or times out:

Timelines Global retries the delivery 2 additional times (3 attempts total)
If all attempts fail, the errors_counter increments
After several failures, Timelines Global emails the workspace owner
Webhooks are not automatically disabled — fix your endpoint

Monitor your errors_counter and fix issues promptly to avoid missing events.

Check error count

curl -X GET "https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/webhooks/7654321" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Look for errors_counter in the response.

Best practices

Respond quickly

Process events asynchronously. Return 200 immediately, then handle the event in the background.

app.post('/webhooks', (req, res) => {
  // Respond immediately
  res.status(200).send('OK');
  
  // Process async
  processEventAsync(req.body);
});

Handle duplicates

Webhooks may be delivered more than once. Use message_uid or event IDs to deduplicate.

const processedEvents = new Set();

function handleEvent(event) {
  if (processedEvents.has(event.message_uid)) {
    return; // Already processed
  }
  processedEvents.add(event.message_uid);
  // Process event...
}

Use a queue

For high volume, push events to a message queue (Redis, RabbitMQ, SQS) and process separately.

Log everything

Log incoming webhooks for debugging:

app.post('/webhooks', (req, res) => {
  console.log(JSON.stringify(req.body, null, 2));
  // ...
});

Testing webhooks locally

Use a tunnel service to expose your local server:

ngrok

# Start your local server
npm start  # Running on port 3000

# In another terminal, create tunnel
ngrok http 3000

# Use the ngrok URL for your webhook
# https://abc123.ngrok.io/webhooks/timelines

localtunnel

npx localtunnel --port 3000

Remember to update your webhook URL to production when deploying.

Example: Auto-reply bot

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

app.use(express.json());

const TIMELINES_TOKEN = process.env.TIMELINES_TOKEN;

app.post('/webhooks/timelines', async (req, res) => {
  res.status(200).send('OK'); // Respond immediately
  
  const event = req.body;
  
  if (event.event_type !== 'message:received:new') return;
  
  const { chat_id, text } = event.data;
  
  // Simple keyword auto-reply
  let reply = null;
  
  if (text?.toLowerCase().includes('hours')) {
    reply = 'Our business hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm EST.';
  } else if (text?.toLowerCase().includes('pricing')) {
    reply = 'Please visit https://timelines.global/pricing for our plans.';
  }
  
  if (reply) {
    await fetch(`https://app.timelines.global/integrations/api/chats/${chat_id}/messages`, {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: {
        'Authorization': `Bearer ${TIMELINES_TOKEN}`,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({ text: reply })
    });
  }
});

app.listen(3000);

Getting Started

Use Cases

Webhooks

Webhooks

How webhooks work

Available events

Creating a webhook

Webhook endpoint requirements

Handling webhook events

Example: Node.js / Express

Example: Python / Flask

Managing webhooks

List all webhooks

Get webhook details

Update webhook

Delete webhook

Error handling

Delivery failures

Check error count

Best practices

Testing webhooks locally

ngrok

localtunnel

Example: Auto-reply bot

Next steps

Send messages

Manage chats

​Webhooks

​How webhooks work

​Available events

​Creating a webhook

​Webhook endpoint requirements

​Handling webhook events

​Example: Node.js / Express

​Example: Python / Flask

​Managing webhooks

​List all webhooks

​Get webhook details

​Update webhook

​Delete webhook

​Error handling

​Delivery failures

​Check error count

​Best practices

​Testing webhooks locally

​ngrok

​localtunnel

​Example: Auto-reply bot

​Next steps

Send messages

Manage chats

Webhooks

How webhooks work

Available events

Creating a webhook

Webhook endpoint requirements

Handling webhook events

Example: Node.js / Express

Example: Python / Flask

Managing webhooks

List all webhooks

Get webhook details

Update webhook

Delete webhook

Error handling

Delivery failures

Check error count

Best practices

Testing webhooks locally

ngrok

localtunnel

Example: Auto-reply bot

Next steps