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

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3. Configure X to send webhooks

X can send webhook requests to your app for Account Activity API events. To register:
  • Sign in to the X Developer Portal and click Developer Portal.
  • Create a project and app (e.g. Development environment), and note API Key, API Key Secret, Bearer Token, and generate Access Token and Access Token Secret under Keys and tokens.
  • Under Products, click Premium and Dev environments, then Set up dev environment for Account Activity API, name the environment, and select your app.
  • Register the webhook with a POST request (URL-encode your ngrok URL). Example: 
    curl --request POST --url 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/account_activity/webhooks.json?url=ENCODED_URL' \
--header 'authorization: OAuth oauth_consumer_key="CONSUMER_KEY", oauth_nonce="GENERATED", oauth_signature="GENERATED", oauth_signature_method="HMAC-SHA1", oauth_timestamp="GENERATED", oauth_token="ACCESS_TOKEN", oauth_version="1.0"'
    Replace ENCODED_URL, CONSUMER_KEY, ACCESS_TOKEN, and generated OAuth values as needed.
  • Subscribe a user to the webhook (use the same OAuth signing with the subscribing user’s access token): 
    curl --request POST --url 'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/account_activity/all/APP_NAME/subscriptions.json' \
--header 'authorization: OAuth ...'

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Run webhooks with X and ngrok

X sends different request body contents depending on the event. To trigger a notification:
  • Sign in to X and post a tweet.
Confirm your localhost app receives the notification and logs both headers and body in the terminal.

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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 X 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 X Developer Portal, click DEVELOPER TOOLS and Webhooks.
  • On the Webhooks page, click Copy to copy the Secret value.
  • Create a Traffic Policy file named twitter_policy.yml. Replace {your webhook secret} with the value you copied: 
    on_http_request:
  - actions:
      - type: verify-webhook
        config:
          provider: twitter
          secret: "{your webhook secret}"
  • Restart ngrok with the policy file: 
    ngrok http 3000 --traffic-policy-file twitter_policy.yml
  • Post a new tweet on X to trigger the webhook.
Your app should receive the request and log it in the terminal.