What are webhooks?

​In web development, a webhook is a method of augmenting, or altering, the behavior of a web page, or application, with custom callbacks.

These callbacks may be maintained, modified, and managed by third-party users or developers who may not necessarily be affiliated with the originating website or application.

Put simply, webhooks are a way of getting real-time updates from a system(e.g., Github commits).

Webhooks vs.​ traditional APIs

Webhooks are far more efficient than traditional APIs as you do not need to poll every few seconds to get real-time updates. Instead, whenever a change is made, you are automatically sent information from the webhook provider. This is why webhooks are also known as reverse APIs.