How do I route different webhook event types to different services?

To route different webhook event types to different services, you typically put a small webhook gateway/router in front of your services.

Common patterns

1) Single ingress endpoint + event dispatcher

1. Receive all webhooks at one endpoint, e.g. POST /webhooks/provider
2. Verify signature/authentication
3. Read the event type from the payload or headers
4. Forward or publish the event to the right internal service

Example routing logic:

• user.created → User Service
• invoice.paid → Billing Service
• repo.push → DevOps Service

This can be implemented as:

• an API gateway/reverse proxy with routing rules
• a custom webhook handler
• a message broker + consumer subscriptions
• a serverless function acting as a router

2) Event bus / pub-sub

Instead of directly calling services:

1. Webhook receiver normalizes and validates the event
2. It publishes to an event bus/topic
3. Services subscribe only to the event types they care about

Examples:

• Kafka topics
• RabbitMQ routing keys
• SNS + SQS
• Google Pub/Sub
• Azure Service Bus

This is usually the most scalable and decoupled option.

3) Separate webhook endpoints per service

If the provider allows it, configure different webhook URLs:

• /webhooks/billing
• /webhooks/users
• /webhooks/devops

This is simpler, but only works if:

• the provider supports multiple webhook endpoints, or
• you can register separate subscriptions for each event type

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Recommended approach

If you expect multiple services and event types, use:

Webhook receiver → event bus → service-specific consumers

This gives you:

• loose coupling
• retries and durability
• independent scaling
• easier adding/removing consumers

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Important considerations

• Verify signatures before routing
• Make routing idempotent to handle retries/duplicates
• Return 2xx quickly to the webhook provider
• Store raw payloads for debugging/auditing
• Use DLQs or retry queues for failed deliveries
• Version event schemas if multiple services consume them

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Simple example

Webhook Provider
      |
      v
Webhook Receiver
      |
      +--> publish "user.created" --> User Service
      +--> publish "payment.succeeded" --> Billing Service
      +--> publish "ticket.opened" --> Support Service

If you want, I can show you:

1. a Node.js/Express example,
2. a Python/FastAPI example, or
3. an architecture using Kafka/RabbitMQ/SQS.