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This guide explains how to use ngrok to receive Intercom webhooks on your localhost app. By integrating ngrok with Intercom, you can:
  • Develop and test Intercom webhooks locally without deploying to a public environment or setting up HTTPS.
  • Inspect and troubleshoot requests from Intercom in real time via the inspection UI and API.
  • Modify and replay Intercom webhook requests with a single click instead of reproducing events manually in your Intercom account.
  • Secure your app with Intercom webhook validation provided by ngrok. Invalid requests are blocked by ngrok before reaching your app.

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What you’ll need

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1. Start your app

For this tutorial, you can use the sample Node.js app on GitHub. To install the sample, run the following in a terminal: 
git clone https://github.com/ngrok/ngrok-webhook-nodejs-sample.git
cd ngrok-webhook-nodejs-sample
npm install
Then start the app: 
npm start
The app runs on port 3000 by default. You can confirm it’s running by visiting http://localhost:3000. The app logs request headers and body in the terminal and shows a message in the browser.

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2. Expose your app with ngrok

Once your app is running locally, you’re ready to put it online securely using ngrok.
The ngrok agent uses your authtoken to authenticate when you start a tunnel.
  • Start ngrok: 
    ngrok http 3000
  • Copy the URL ngrok displays. Your app is now exposed at that URL for use with Intercom.

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3. Configure Intercom to send webhooks

Intercom can send webhook requests to your app when events occur in your account. To register for those events:
  • Sign in to Intercom.
  • Click your avatar (below the What’s new bell icon) and then Settings.
If your avatar doesn’t appear, zoom out on the page.
  • Under Apps & Integrations, click Developer Hub.
If the Developer Guidelines popup appears, click Accept and Continue.
  • Click New App, enter a name, select your workspace, keep Internal integration selected, and click Create app.
  • In your app, click Webhooks under Configure.
  • Enter your ngrok URL in Your request endpoint URL (for example, https://1a2b-3c4d-5e6f-7g8h-9i0j.ngrok.app).
  • Select contact.user.created in Webhook topics and click Save.
Intercom sends a test request to your app; confirm your localhost app receives it in the terminal. You can click Send a test request on the Intercom Webhooks page to send another test.

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Run webhooks with Intercom and ngrok

With contact.user.created selected, you can trigger calls by creating a user:
  • In Intercom, click Contacts.
  • Click New, New users or leads, Create new user.
  • Enter Name, Email, and User ID and click Create a user.
Confirm your localhost app receives the event and logs both headers and body in the terminal.
Intercom sends different request body contents depending on the events you selected when registering the webhook.

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Inspecting requests

ngrok’s Traffic Inspector captures all requests made through your ngrok endpoint to your localhost app. Select any request to view detailed information about both the request and response.
To avoid exposing secrets, accounts only collect traffic metadata by default. You must enable full capture in the Observability section of your account settings to capture complete request and response data.
Use the traffic inspector to:
  • Validate webhook payloads and response data
  • Debug request headers, methods, and status codes
  • Troubleshoot integration issues without adding logging to your app

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Replaying requests

Test your webhook handling code without triggering new events from your service using the Traffic Inspector’s replay feature:
  1. Send a test webhook from your service to generate traffic in your Traffic Inspector.
  2. Select the request you want to replay in the traffic inspector.
  3. Choose your replay option:
    • Click Replay to send the exact same request again
    • Select Replay with modifications to edit the request before sending
  4. (Optional) Modify the request: Edit any part of the original request, such as changing field values in the request body.
  5. Send the request by clicking Replay.
Your local application will receive the replayed request and log the data to the terminal.

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Secure webhook requests

ngrok can verify that incoming requests are from your Intercom webhook so only that traffic reaches your app.
Webhook verification is limited to 500 validations per month on free accounts. If you need more, you can upgrade to Hobbyist or Pay-as-you-go. See TPU Pricing for details.
To add verification:
  • In the Intercom Developer Hub, click your app and then Basic information.
  • Copy the Client secret value.
  • Create a Traffic Policy file named intercom_policy.yml. Replace {your client secret} with the value you copied: 
    on_http_request:
  - actions:
      - type: verify-webhook
        config:
          provider: intercom
          secret: "{your client secret}"
  • Restart ngrok with the policy file: 
    ngrok http 3000 --traffic-policy-file intercom_policy.yml
  • Create a new contact in Intercom to trigger the webhook.
Your app should receive the request and log it in the terminal.