Webhook 500 retry timeout

A 500 response on a webhook usually means your webhook endpoint errored or timed out while the sender was trying to deliver the event.

What “retry timeout” typically means

The webhook provider:

1. Sent the request to your endpoint
2. Didn’t get a successful response in time, or got a 5xx
3. Marked delivery as failed
4. Scheduled a retry based on its retry policy

Common causes

• Your server threw an exception
• The endpoint took too long to respond
• Database/API dependency was slow or down
• Request body parsing failed
• Load balancer / reverse proxy timeout
• The app returned 500 because of missing config or auth
• The webhook handler is doing too much work inline

What to check

• Server logs at the exact webhook delivery time
• Webhook provider delivery logs for the response body/status
• Timeout settings on:
  • app server
  • reverse proxy (nginx, ALB, etc.)
  • platform/serverless function
• Whether your handler returns a response quickly, ideally in a few seconds

Recommended webhook pattern

• Validate the request
• Persist the event quickly
• Return 2xx immediately
• Process the event asynchronously in a background job/queue

Example:

• Good: 200 OK in under 1–2 seconds
• Bad: waiting on multiple API calls before responding

If you want, I can help you debug it

Send me:

• webhook provider name
• the endpoint stack (Node, Python, Laravel, etc.)
• the exact error/log snippet
• whether it’s failing immediately or timing out after a delay

Then I can help narrow down the cause.