Webhook Actions by Flow Systems

Webhook Actions by Flow Systems is a developer-focused WordPress webhook delivery layer designed for reliable automation workflows.

It adds a persistent queue, automatic retries, and Action Scheduler support for production-grade background processing — so your webhooks don’t get lost when external APIs fail.

Works great with WooCommerce, n8n, Zapier alternatives, and custom APIs.

Any WordPress do_action hook can become a reliable event source — register it as a trigger and the plugin handles queuing, retries, payload mapping, and delivery from there. No custom delivery code required.

Includes built-in Contact Form 7 integration — send CF7 form submissions to webhooks instantly with clean, structured payloads. Replace fragile CF7 email workflows with reliable webhook-based automation.

Unlike basic “fire-and-forget” webhook implementations, this plugin ensures:

• Delivery attempts are tracked
• Failures are visible
• Retries are automatic and intelligent
• Events include stable identity metadata for idempotency

Built for production environments where losing events is not acceptable.

👉 Step-by-step example: Send Contact Form 7 submissions to a webhook (n8n demo) 👉 Step-by-step example: Send Gravity Forms Submissions to n8n 👉 Step-by-step example: Send IvyForms submissions to a webhook (n8n demo)

⚡ Webhook Actions Pro

Unlock unlimited conditions, per-webhook retry and backoff settings, type casting in payload mapping, and more.

See pricing and upgrade →

Typical Use Cases

• CF7 to Webhook: Send Contact Form 7 Data to n8n or external APIs
• Gravity Forms webhooks for sending submission to CRM
• Send IvyForms submissions to n8n or external APIs
• Build reliable form-to-CRM integrations with retry protection
• Process high-volume WooCommerce webhooks using Action Scheduler
• Send WooCommerce orders to n8n with retry protection
• Sync WordPress users to external CRMs safely
• Trigger backend microservices from WP hooks
• Send event-driven data to internal APIs
• Replace fragile custom wp_remote_post() integrations
• Build idempotent WordPress automation pipelines
• Query delivery logs, trigger retries, or manage webhooks programmatically from CI/CD pipelines or external dashboards using API tokens
• Allow AI coding assistants (e.g. Claude Code) to inspect webhook logs and retry failed events automatically
• Use AI agents to monitor webhook delivery health and operate the queue through the REST API

Event Identity & Idempotency

Every dispatched webhook includes:

• Unique UUID (v4) per event
• ISO 8601 UTC timestamp
• Embedded event.id, event.timestamp, event.version in the payload

• HTTP headers: X-Event-Id, X-Event-Timestamp, X-Webhook-Id

  X-Webhook-Id carries the webhook's own stable UUID — distinct from the per-event X-Event-Id. When multiple webhooks point to the same endpoint, the receiving system can use X-Webhook-Id to identify which webhook configuration triggered the delivery without inspecting the payload.

This enables downstream deduplication, idempotent workflow design, and reliable debugging across systems.

Reliable Queue & Smart Retry

Webhooks are never sent directly from request execution. Instead:

• Events are stored in a persistent database queue
• Processed asynchronously via background jobs
• Dispatched in batches to avoid performance impact

Smart retry routing:

• 5xx and 429 responses → automatic exponential backoff retry
• 4xx and 3xx responses → immediately marked as permanently_failed
• Configurable maximum retry attempts
• Full attempt history stored per event

No silent failures.

Replay Webhook Events

Webhook debugging is difficult when events cannot be reproduced.

Webhook Actions by Flow Systems allows you to replay any webhook event directly from the delivery logs — including successful deliveries and condition-skipped events.

This makes it easy to:

• Re-run automation workflows
• Debug external integrations
• Recover from temporary endpoint failures
• Test webhook consumers without recreating WordPress events
• Re-evaluate previously skipped events after changing webhook conditions

Each replay uses the original payload and event metadata, ensuring consistent behavior across retries and debugging sessions.

Conditional Dispatch

Not every WordPress event should trigger a webhook. Conditional dispatch lets you define field-level rules on any webhook — the event is only delivered if the conditions pass. Events that fail the check are logged with a skipped status and can be replayed later after adjusting the conditions.

Conditions are evaluated against the outgoing payload using dot-notation field paths. Each condition specifies a field, an optional type cast, an operator, and a comparison value. The field selector shows the live captured payload so you can click through nested structures and pick the exact path without typing it manually.

Operators include: equals, not equals, contains, starts with, ends with, is empty, has value, greater than, less than, array_contains, object_contains

Type casting before comparison: auto-detect, number, string, boolean, or stringify (JSON-encodes arrays and objects into a string for pattern matching)

Example — WooCommerce: fire only when a specific product is in the order

A woocommerce_order_status_changed hook passes the full order object. The payload includes args.1.line_items — an array of purchased products, each with fields like product_id, quantity, and subtotal. To send a webhook only when product ID 26 appears in the order:

• Field: args.1.line_items
• Operator: has value → key: product_id, value: 26

The webhook stays silent for every other order and fires only when that product is purchased. No custom PHP, no extra filters — just a condition rule configured in the admin panel.

The same pattern works for any hook-based event: filter by post type, form field value, user role, order total, or any other field present in the payload.

Free plan includes one condition with AND matching. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited conditions, multiple condition groups with independent AND/OR logic per group, and ANY (OR) matching.

Synchronous Execution

By default, all webhooks are delivered asynchronously via the built-in queue — events are stored, processed in the background, and retried automatically on failure. This is the recommended approach for production sites.

For specific webhooks that require inline delivery (e.g. an internal API that must respond within the same request), you can enable Synchronous Execution per webhook:

• The webhook fires during the WordPress request that triggered it — no queue delay
• The first attempt runs blocking in the current request
• If that attempt fails with a retryable error (5xx, transport error), it automatically falls back to the queue with standard exponential backoff starting at attempt 2
• Non-retryable failures (4xx) are marked permanently failed immediately
• A warning dialog must be acknowledged before enabling, and can be dismissed permanently per-browser

Use with caution on user-facing requests — a slow or unreachable endpoint will delay page loads, form submissions, and other frontend interactions.

Delivery Observability

Operational visibility built into the admin panel:

Status states: pending, processing, success, failed (retrying), permanently_failed

• Attempt timeline per event
• HTTP status codes and response bodies
• Inspect full request payloads
• Manual retry (single or bulk)
• Replay webhook events for debugging and testing integrations

Filter by: event UUID, target URL, date range, status

Queue health metrics:

• Average attempts per event
• Oldest pending job age
• Queue stuck detection
• WP-Cron-only warning

Designed as an operations console — not just a webhook sender.

Payload Mapping

Adapt outgoing JSON payloads to match any external API:

• Rename fields using dot notation
• Restructure nested objects
• Exclude sensitive or unnecessary data
• Cast field values to number, string, or boolean before sending (e.g. WooCommerce price "100.50" → 100.5)
• Store example payloads for configuration
• Modify via fswa_payload filter

Payloads always include stable event metadata for consistency.

Configurable HTTP Requests

Every webhook can be configured to match exactly what the target API expects:

HTTP Method

Choose the method used for each delivery: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE. Default is POST.

Custom Request Headers

Add any number of key/value header pairs sent with every delivery. Header values support dot-notation paths — reference any field from the outgoing payload directly (e.g. event.id, site.url). Resolved at dispatch time against the live payload.

URL Query Parameters

Append query parameters to the endpoint URL at dispatch time. Values also support dot-notation payload resolution.

For GET and DELETE requests — where a request body is not appropriate — query parameters become the primary payload transport. If no params are configured, the full payload is sent as a ?payload= fallback. POST, PUT, and PATCH send a JSON body as normal; any configured params are appended to the URL in addition.

Request details in delivery logs

Every delivery log stores the exact headers sent and the fully resolved URL (including all query parameters), so you can inspect precisely what was dispatched.

REST API Access with Token Authentication

The plugin exposes a full operational REST API (/wp-json/fswa/v1/) that powers the admin interface and can also be used directly by external tools, automation systems, AI agents, and CI/CD pipelines.

Every endpoint supports dual authentication:

• WordPress admin session (cookie-based, used by the admin panel)
• API token — for programmatic access without a browser session

API Tokens

Create tokens directly from the API Tokens screen in the admin panel. Each token is assigned one of three scopes:

• read — GET access to webhooks, logs, queue, health, triggers, and schemas
• operational — Read + toggle webhooks on/off, retry and replay log entries, execute queue jobs
• full — Operational + create, update, and delete webhooks, schemas, and queue jobs

Token authentication is accepted via:

• X-FSWA-Token: <token> header (recommended)
• Authorization: Bearer <token> header
• ?api_token=<token> query parameter

Tokens can be set to expire and rotated at any time. Rotation issues a new secret immediately while preserving the token's name, scope, and settings. Token management always requires a WordPress admin login — tokens cannot be used to create or manage other tokens.

Full REST API documentation: REST API Reference

AI Agents and Programmatic Automation

The REST API makes Webhook Actions by Flow Systems accessible to AI-powered tools and coding agents.

Automation systems, CI pipelines, and AI coding assistants (such as Claude Code or Cursor) can safely interact with webhook infrastructure using API tokens without requiring WordPress admin sessions.

Typical AI-driven workflows include:

• AI agents monitoring webhook delivery health
• Automatically retrying failed webhook events
• Inspecting delivery logs to debug integrations
• Enabling or disabling webhooks dynamically during deployments
• Managing automation pipelines across environments

Because the API exposes operational endpoints for logs, queue jobs, webhooks, and triggers, external agents can treat WordPress as a programmable event infrastructure.

Example scenarios:

• A Claude Code agent analyzes webhook delivery logs and automatically retries failed integrations. • A CI/CD pipeline disables webhook triggers during deployments and re-enables them afterward. • Automation systems query webhook health metrics and alert when the queue becomes stuck. • External dashboards display real-time webhook delivery metrics using API tokens.

This allows WordPress automation pipelines to be controlled entirely through HTTP APIs, enabling advanced integration with AI-driven development workflows.

Webhook Actions Pro (full feature list)

Webhook Actions Pro extends the plugin with advanced features for production workflows:

• Unlimited conditions and condition groups with AND/OR logic
• Type casting in conditions — cast field values to number, string, or boolean before comparison
• Type casting in payload mapping — cast values before sending to external APIs
• Per-webhook retry settings — override maximum retry attempts at the webhook level
• Per-webhook backoff strategy — override retry delay behavior per webhook
• License managed directly from the Pro tab in the admin panel

Learn more and upgrade →

Contact Form 7 Webhooks

Webhook Actions by Flow Systems includes built-in integration with Contact Form 7.

When Contact Form 7 is active, form submissions are automatically converted into structured webhook payloads — no custom code required.

Included in each payload:

• Form ID and title
• Submission data (all fields)
• Normalized field structure (no raw CF7 format)
• Request metadata
• Uploaded files (where applicable)

Benefits:

• Send CF7 submissions to n8n, APIs, CRMs, or automation tools
• No need for custom hooks or additional plugins
• Clean JSON payloads ready for external processing
• Works with existing webhook retry, queue, and replay system

This allows you to build reliable form-to-automation pipelines directly from WordPress.

Action Scheduler Support

Webhook Actions by Flow Systems now supports Action Scheduler — the same background job system used by WooCommerce.

When available, webhook queue processing automatically switches from WP-Cron to Action Scheduler for improved reliability and scalability.

Benefits:

• More reliable background execution than WP-Cron
• Better handling of high-volume webhook traffic
• Persistent job tracking and recovery
• No configuration required — automatic detection and migration

This makes the plugin suitable for production WooCommerce stores and high-throughput automation pipelines.

Developer Friendly

• Works with any WordPress or WooCommerce action
• Full REST API (/wp-json/fswa/v1/) usable from any HTTP client — not just the admin panel
• API token authentication with scoped access (read, operational, full)
• Configurable HTTP method, custom headers, and URL query parameters per webhook
• Fully extensible via filters and actions
• Clean namespace and unique prefixes
• Built according to WordPress.org standards
• Supports system cron, WP-Cron, and Action Scheduler (auto-detected)

Why Choose Webhook Actions by Flow Systems?

Most WordPress webhook setups fire once, don't retry intelligently, don't provide delivery visibility, and don't expose event identity.

Webhook Actions by Flow Systems provides:

• Persistent queue
• Smart retry logic
• Webhook replay for debugging integrations
• Permanent failure state handling
• Event UUIDs and timestamps
• Full delivery logging and metrics
• Configurable HTTP method, custom headers, and URL query parameters per webhook
• Conditional webhook dispatch
• Per-webhook synchronous execution — optional inline delivery with automatic queue fallback on failure
• Test webhook delivery — send a test event instantly or via queue without triggering real WordPress events
• REST API with token authentication for programmatic access
• Action Scheduler support for reliable background processing (when available)
• Built-in CF7 to webhook support (no extra plugins needed)

Upgrade to Webhook Actions Pro for unlimited conditions, per-webhook retry and backoff settings, and more.

Built for developers who need production-grade automation reliability.

Available Filters

• fswa_should_dispatch – Decide if a trigger should dispatch
• fswa_payload – Customize webhook payload before dispatch
• fswa_capture_payload – Modify the payload just before it is stored as the captured example (does not affect the dispatched payload); args: $payload, $webhookId, $trigger
• fswa_normalize_object – Normalize a third-party object into an array for payload serialization
• fswa_headers – Add or modify HTTP headers sent with the request
• fswa_require_https – Toggle HTTPS requirement
• fswa_max_attempts – Configure maximum retry attempts
• fswa_backoff_delay – Customize retry backoff delay in seconds
• fswa_queue_batch_size – Configure batch processing size
• fswa_http_timeout – Configure HTTP request timeout
• fswa_http_connect_timeout – Configure HTTP connect timeout
• fswa_http_args – Customize HTTP request arguments
• fswa_available_triggers – Customize available trigger list
• fswa_webhook_data – Filter webhook configuration data returned by the REST API

Available Actions

• fswa_success – Fired after successful webhook delivery
• fswa_error – Fired after webhook delivery failure
• fswa_skipped – Fired when a webhook dispatch is skipped due to a …