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This guide walks you through using ngrok to receive Shopify webhooks on your localhost app. By integrating ngrok with Shopify, you can:
  • Develop and test Shopify webhooks locally without deploying to a public environment or setting up HTTPS.
  • Inspect and troubleshoot requests from Shopify in real time via the inspection UI and API.
  • Modify and replay Shopify webhook requests with a single click instead of reproducing events manually in your Shopify store.
  • Secure your app with Shopify 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 Shopify.

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3. Configure Shopify to send webhooks

Shopify can send webhook requests to your app when events occur in your store. To register for those events:
  • Sign in to your Shopify account, select your store, and click Settings at the bottom of the left menu.
  • Click Notifications, scroll to Webhooks, and click Create webhook.
  • In Add webhook, select Product creation for Event and JSON for Format.
  • Enter your ngrok URL in URL (for example, https://1a2b-3c4d-5e6f-7g8h-9i0j.ngrok.app).
  • For Webhook API version, select an option that includes (Latest) and click Save.
Optionally, copy the signing key shown in the Webhooks section for use in verification.

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Run webhooks with Shopify and ngrok

You can send a test from the Webhooks section with Send test notification. With Product creation selected, creating a product triggers a notification:
  • Click Products and Add product.
  • Enter a Title, Price, and SKU and click Save.
Confirm your localhost app receives the notification and logs both headers and body in the terminal.
Shopify sends different request body contents depending on the event you selected.

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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 Shopify 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 Settings, Notifications, Webhooks, copy the value shown after All your webhooks will be signed with.
  • Create a Traffic Policy file named shopify_policy.yml. Replace {your signing secret} with the value you copied: 
    on_http_request:
  - actions:
      - type: verify-webhook
        config:
          provider: shopify
          secret: "{your signing secret}"
  • Restart ngrok with the policy file: 
    ngrok http 3000 --traffic-policy-file shopify_policy.yml
  • Create a product in your Shopify store to trigger the webhook.
Your app should receive the request and log it in the terminal.