The webhook inbox pattern: stop writing this controller by hand

Short summary

Rails webhook handlers suffer race condition bugs causing duplicate processing and missing replay capability. The solution: store events in the database with unique constraints for deduplication, then process asynchronously. The webhook_inbox gem standardizes this pattern with a dashboard, replay functionality, and RSpec test helpers.

• •Database-level unique constraints eliminate race conditions that application-level exists? checks can't prevent
• •Store all webhook payloads with status tracking for visibility, replay, and error recovery without log digging
• •webhook_inbox gem replaces ~50 lines of boilerplate with one gem, controller include, and initializer config

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.