Why my test-webhook-auto-syncer idea won't work

Automating Stripe test Webhook Setup with ngrok

Wait,...before you continue reading, I feel the idea is cool and like every modern problem, there could be possible solutions around them but yeah, I didn't budget that time. BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A QUICK ONE. haha.

Let's go....

Problem statement

As someone who has been working with Stripe API heavily, there's this repetitive task I intended to automate which is setting up test webhook URLs generated by ngrok every time I start my codebase. Github repo

The 'tedious' flow:

1. run ngrok http 8000
2. copy the generated https URL
3. login to Stripe dashboard
4. create/edit a Stripe webhook
5. add Stripe events to listen to

Automated version:

• signup and login to webhookautosyncer dot com then press one ultimate button (deploy stripe webhook)

In a more detailed way:
Auto deploy test webhooks to Stripe dashboard for Stripe payments.
🐥 No need to manually add test webhook endpoints (e.g. the ones generated with ngrok) in Stripe dashboard every time you restart your application.
🐥 Just start your app locally, a secured endpoint is automatically generated for you and it is automatically set in your Stripe dashboard.
🐥 It should just work in one click.

What should work, I mean, theoritically:

Once you have ngrok running in the background:
The script makes a GET request to http://localhost:4040/api/tunnels/command_line
Extracts the https URL:

$ngrokUrl = $response['public_url'];

Using Stripe webhook API, the webhook will be automatically deployed to users' Stripe dashboard.

$stripe = new StripeClient("sk_test_YOUR_STRIPE_TEST_KEY");
$result = $stripe->webhookEndpoints->create([
    'enabled_events' => ['charge.succeeded', 'charge.failed'],
    'url' =>  $ngrokUrl . "/api/v1/webhook/settle-customer",
]);

Well,... them challenges:

You can't remotely access people's CLI esp from the browser: If this was possible, that's a big security flaw so the principalities of software architecture and custodians of the internet made this impossible --which is a good thing tbh.

I could get the ngrok https URL via a localhost but I am unable to do that because, again, I can't make a GET request to localhost from a remote server.

Lastly, I could write a Node.js CLI tool that, when users install it (globally), this script sends me (my remote server) the ngrok https URL, which I will use to automatically setup a Stripe webhook. Also, I will need to authorize users with an API key kinda. That's like a couple of overheads that I did not budget time for.

Solutions (but, I will leave you to try 🤭 ):

1. Local App Setup:

   • Build it as an application one can setup on their own PC.

2. Distribute the solution as a package.

3. Build it as a Laravel package

Conclusion:

I had fun digging the ngrok API docs and doing research, trying possible approaches but yeah,...here we are. It was a good one.

Can I have a word?
If you feel you can crack this thing, maybe using another approach, that's super cool. Do let us know!

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Cheers to hacking stuff. ⚒️ 🥂