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

​
What you’ll need

​
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.

​
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 Pusher.

​
3. Configure Pusher to send webhooks

Pusher can send webhook requests to your app when events occur in your channel. To register for those events:
  • Sign in to the Pusher dashboard.
  • Click your channel name in the Channels tile (or create a channel, for example my-channel).
  • On your channel page, click Webhooks and then Add webhook.
  • On Add new webhook, enter your ngrok URL in Webhook URL (for example, https://1a2b-3c4d-5e6f-7g8h-9i0j.ngrok.app).
  • Under Event type, click Client events and click Save.
  • Repeat to add webhooks for other event types if needed.

​
Run webhooks with Pusher and ngrok

Pusher sends different request body contents depending on the event. To trigger a call: in the Pusher dashboard, go to Debug console, expand Event creator, enter my-channel in Channel, my-event in Event, and some text in Data, then click Send event. Confirm your localhost app receives the event and logs both headers and body in the terminal. You can check Error Logs and the Webhook errors tab for delivery issues (Pusher shows only messages that could not be delivered).

​
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

​
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.

​
Secure webhook requests

ngrok can verify that incoming requests are from your Pusher 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 Pusher dashboard, open your channel, Webhooks, and copy the webhook secret (or the value shown for signing).
  • Create a Traffic Policy file named pusher_policy.yml. Replace {your webhook secret} with the value you copied: 
    on_http_request:
  - actions:
      - type: verify-webhook
        config:
          provider: pusher
          secret: "{your webhook secret}"
  • Restart ngrok with the policy file: 
    ngrok http 3000 --traffic-policy-file pusher_policy.yml
  • Send a client event from the Debug console to trigger the webhook.
Your app should receive the request and log it in the terminal.