How to Set Up GitHub Webhook Notifications with Webhookify

Published Feb 21 202610 min read
GitHub webhook setup with Webhookify

GitHub is the world's largest platform for software development and version control, hosting over 200 million repositories. Every push, pull request, issue, deployment, and workflow run generates events that developers and teams need to stay on top of. While GitHub offers its own email notifications, they can be noisy, slow, and lack the customization developers need. Webhookify transforms GitHub webhook events into instant, AI-summarized notifications delivered to Telegram, Discord, Slack, Email, or your mobile device, giving you real-time visibility into your repositories without the clutter.

This guide walks you through connecting GitHub webhooks to Webhookify step by step. Whether you want to monitor a single repository or an entire organization, you will be set up in under 15 minutes with zero code required.

Why Monitor GitHub Webhooks with Webhookify?

  • Instant Code Push Alerts: Know immediately when someone pushes code to your repository. Webhookify delivers AI-summarized push notifications that tell you who pushed, to which branch, and a summary of the changes -- all without opening GitHub.

  • Pull Request Monitoring: Track the lifecycle of pull requests from creation to merge. Get notified when PRs are opened, reviewed, approved, or merged. This is invaluable for team leads who need to stay aware of code changes without constantly checking GitHub.

  • Deployment Tracking: Monitor CI/CD pipeline status in real time. When a deployment succeeds, fails, or encounters an error, you receive an immediate notification. This dramatically reduces the time between a broken deployment and a fix.

  • Multi-Repository Oversight: If you maintain multiple repositories, Webhookify consolidates all webhook events into a single notification stream. Route different repositories to different channels, or aggregate everything in one place for a bird's-eye view.

  • AI-Powered Context: Instead of receiving raw JSON payloads, Webhookify uses AI to generate human-readable summaries. A push event becomes "Alice pushed 3 commits to main branch: updated auth flow, fixed login bug, added unit tests" rather than a blob of commit hashes.

Prerequisites

  1. A GitHub account with admin access to the repository you want to monitor
  2. A Webhookify account (sign up free at webhookify.app)
  3. At least one notification channel configured in Webhookify (Telegram, Discord, Slack, Email, or mobile push)
  4. For organization-level webhooks, you need organization owner or admin permissions

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

1

Create a Webhookify Endpoint

Log into your Webhookify dashboard at webhookify.app. Click "Create Endpoint" to generate a unique webhook URL:

https://hook.webhookify.app/wh/ghi789abc456

Copy this URL. Name the endpoint descriptively, such as "GitHub - my-app repo" or "GitHub Organization Events." If you want separate notification rules for different repositories, create a separate endpoint for each one. Otherwise, a single endpoint can receive webhooks from multiple repositories.

2

Configure Your Notification Channel

Set up your preferred notification channels in the Webhookify settings before connecting GitHub.

For Telegram: Connect the Webhookify bot and select a chat or group. Many development teams create a dedicated "Dev Alerts" group for GitHub notifications.

For Discord: Authorize the bot and choose a channel like #github-activity or #deployments in your Discord server.

For Slack: Complete the OAuth flow and select a channel. Developer teams commonly use channels like #github, #code-reviews, or #deployments.

For Email: Add individual or team email addresses. This creates a searchable record of all GitHub events.

For Mobile Push: Install the Webhookify app on your phone, sign in, and enable push notifications. This is particularly useful for on-call developers who need to know about failed deployments immediately.

3

Add Your Webhookify URL in GitHub

Navigate to your GitHub repository. Click on Settings (you need admin access), then select Webhooks from the left sidebar.

Click "Add webhook". Fill in the following fields:

  • Payload URL: Paste your Webhookify endpoint URL
  • Content type: Select application/json
  • Secret: (Optional) You can add a secret for webhook signature verification. Webhookify will log the signature header if you set one.
  • SSL verification: Keep this enabled (Webhookify uses HTTPS)

Under "Which events would you like to trigger this webhook?", you have three options:

  1. Just the push event -- Only triggers on code pushes
  2. Send me everything -- Triggers on all events (can be noisy for active repos)
  3. Let me select individual events -- Recommended for most use cases

Select "Let me select individual events" and check the events you want to monitor. The most useful events for most teams are:

  • Pushes
  • Pull requests
  • Issues
  • Deployments
  • Deployment statuses
  • Workflow runs
  • Releases
  • Branch or tag creation
  • Branch or tag deletion

Click "Add webhook" to save. GitHub will immediately send a ping event to verify the connection.

4

Configure Organization-Level Webhooks (Optional)

If you want to monitor all repositories in a GitHub organization from a single webhook, navigate to your organization's Settings page, then click Webhooks in the left sidebar.

The setup process is identical to the repository-level webhook, but organization webhooks will fire for events across all repositories in the organization. This is ideal for:

  • Engineering managers who need visibility across all team repos
  • DevOps teams monitoring deployments across the organization
  • Open-source maintainers tracking contributions to multiple projects

You can still create repository-level webhooks alongside organization webhooks if you need different notification routing for specific repos.

5

Test Your Configuration

After adding the webhook, GitHub sends a ping event automatically. Check your Webhookify dashboard to confirm the ping was received.

To test with a real event, make a small change to a file in your repository:

  1. Edit a README or any file directly on GitHub
  2. Commit the change to a branch
  3. Check your notification channel for the push alert

You can also go to your webhook settings in GitHub and click "Recent Deliveries" to see the full history of webhook deliveries, including response codes and payloads.

If the ping event shows a green checkmark and a 200 response code, your webhook is properly connected to Webhookify.

GitHub Webhook Events You Can Monitor

| Category | Event | Description | |----------|-------|-------------| | Code | push | Code pushed to a branch | | Code | create | Branch or tag created | | Code | delete | Branch or tag deleted | | Pull Requests | pull_request | PR opened, closed, merged, or updated | | Pull Requests | pull_request_review | PR review submitted | | Pull Requests | pull_request_review_comment | Comment on PR diff | | Issues | issues | Issue opened, closed, or edited | | Issues | issue_comment | Comment on an issue or PR | | CI/CD | workflow_run | GitHub Actions workflow triggered | | CI/CD | workflow_job | Individual job in workflow | | CI/CD | deployment | Deployment created | | CI/CD | deployment_status | Deployment status updated | | CI/CD | check_run | Check run completed | | CI/CD | check_suite | Check suite completed | | Releases | release | Release published or drafted | | Repository | fork | Repository forked | | Repository | star | Repository starred | | Repository | watch | Repository watched | | Security | security_advisory | Security advisory published | | Security | code_scanning_alert | Code scanning alert created | | Security | dependabot_alert | Dependabot alert triggered | | Collaboration | member | Collaborator added or removed | | Collaboration | team_add | Team added to repository | | Discussions | discussion | Discussion created or updated | | Discussions | discussion_comment | Comment on discussion |

Real-World Use Cases

  • On-Call Deployment Monitoring: A DevOps engineer receives deployment_status notifications on their phone via Webhookify. When a production deployment fails at 2 AM, they get an instant push notification with the error details, allowing them to start debugging immediately instead of discovering the issue the next morning.

  • Open-Source Project Management: A maintainer of a popular open-source project routes issues and pull_request events to a Telegram group shared with core contributors. When a new issue is opened or a PR is submitted, everyone on the team sees it immediately and can coordinate who will respond.

  • Code Review Workflow: A team lead monitors pull_request_review events on Slack. When a PR is approved by two reviewers, they get a notification and can merge it quickly. When changes are requested, the original author is also alerted via their personal Telegram chat.

  • Release Tracking: A product manager subscribes to release events for multiple repositories. When a new version is published, they receive a notification with the release notes summary, helping them coordinate announcements and documentation updates without needing GitHub access.

Example Notification

Here is what a typical Webhookify notification looks like for a GitHub push event:

New Webhook Event Received

Source: GitHub
Event: push
Endpoint: GitHub - my-app repo

AI Summary:
Alice Chen pushed 3 commits to the "main" branch of
my-org/my-app:
  - feat: add user authentication flow
  - fix: resolve login redirect bug (#142)
  - test: add unit tests for auth module
Compare: https://github.com/my-org/my-app/compare/abc123...def456

Timestamp: 2026-02-21T16:45:22Z

View full payload in Webhookify Dashboard

Troubleshooting

  1. GitHub shows a red X next to the webhook delivery: This means GitHub received a non-200 response code. Check that your Webhookify endpoint URL is correct and that the Webhookify service is operational. You can click on the failed delivery in GitHub to see the response code and body.

  2. Ping event succeeds but no other events arrive: Make sure you selected the correct events when creating the webhook. If you chose "Just the push event," only pushes will trigger the webhook. Go back to webhook settings and add more events.

  3. Notifications not received despite events showing in Webhookify logs: The webhook is working correctly, but the notification channel may be disconnected. Check your Webhookify settings to ensure your Telegram, Discord, or Slack integration is still active. Tokens can expire if permissions are revoked.

  4. Too many notifications from active repositories: For busy repositories with frequent pushes and CI runs, the notification volume can be high. Consider selecting only critical events (like deployment_status and pull_request) rather than everything. You can also use Webhookify's filtering to suppress routine events.

  5. Organization webhook not firing for new repositories: Organization webhooks apply to repositories that existed when the webhook was created. For new repositories, the webhook should apply automatically, but if it does not, check that the webhook is configured for "Repositories: All" rather than specific repos in the organization webhook settings.

For the best developer experience, create separate Webhookify endpoints for production deployments and general development activity. Route production deployment events to a high-priority channel with mobile push notifications enabled, and route general push and PR events to a standard Slack or Discord channel. This way, critical production issues get immediate attention while routine development activity stays informational.

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How to Set Up GitHub Webhook Notifications with Webhookify - Webhookify | Webhookify