TL;DRTo integrate Airship webhooks with ngrok:
  1. Launch your local webhook. npm start
  2. Launch ngrok. ngrok http 3000
  3. Configure Airship webhooks with your ngrok URL.
  4. Secure your webhook requests with verification.
This guide covers how to use ngrok to integrate your localhost app with Airship by using Webhooks. You can configure an open channel to deliver notifications to any device through webhooks. By integrating ngrok with Airship, you can:
  • Develop and test Airship webhooks locally, eliminating the time in deploying your development code to a public environment and setting it up in HTTPS.
  • Inspect and troubleshoot requests from Airship in real-time via the inspection UI and API.
  • Modify and Replay Airship Webhook requests with a single click and without spending time reproducing events manually in your Airship account.
  • Secure your app with Airship validation provided by ngrok. Invalid requests are blocked by ngrok before reaching your app.

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Step 1: Start your app

For this tutorial, we’ll use the sample NodeJS app available on GitHub. To install this sample, run the following commands in a terminal: 
git clone https://github.com/ngrok/ngrok-webhook-nodejs-sample.git
cd ngrok-webhook-nodejs-sample
npm install
This will get the project installed locally. Now you can launch the app by running the following command: 
npm start
The app runs by default on port 3000. You can validate that the app is up and running by visiting http://localhost:3000. The application logs request headers and body in the terminal and responds with a message in the browser.

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Step 2: Launch ngrok

Once your app is running successfully on localhost, let’s get it on the internet securely using ngrok!
  1. If you’re not an ngrok user yet, just sign up for ngrok for free.
  2. Download the ngrok agent.
  3. Go to the ngrok dashboard and copy your Authtoken.
    Tip: The ngrok agent uses the auth token to log into your account when you start a tunnel.
  4. Start ngrok by running the following command: 
    ngrok http 3000
  5. ngrok will display a URL where your localhost application is exposed to the internet (copy this URL for use with Airship). ngrok agent running

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Step 3: Integrate Airship

To register a webhook on your Airship account follow the instructions below:
  1. Access Airship and sign in using your Airship account.
  2. On the App Projects page, click on one of your projects.
  3. On the top menu, click Settings, click Open Channels under the Channels section, and then click Configure new Open Channel.
  4. Enter My Local Webhook in the Display Name field, enter MyLocalWebhook in the Name field, and enter the URL provided by the ngrok agent to expose your application to the internet in the Webhook URL field (i.e. https://1a2b-3c4d-5e6f-7g8h-9i0j.ngrok.app). Webhook URL
  5. Click Save.

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Run Webhooks with Airship and ngrok

Airship sends different request body contents depending on the event that is being triggered. You can trigger new calls from Airship to your application by following the instructions below.
  1. Access your Airship application from the Applications page.
  2. On the top menu, click Messages, click Messages Overview, and then click the + icon on the top right corner of the page.
  3. On the What would you like to create page, click the Message tile.
  4. On the Who will receive your message page, select My Local Webhook as the channel and select the users.
  5. Click Content on the top menu, click Custom Message, and enter any text in the Alert Text field.
  6. Click Delivery on the top menu and click Send now.
  7. Click Review & Send on the top menu and click Send Message. Confirm your localhost app receives event notifications 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. Click on any request to view detailed information about both the request and response.
By default, accounts only collect traffic metadata to avoid exposing secrets. 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. Modify the request (optional): 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

The ngrok signature webhook verification feature allows ngrok to assert that requests from your Airship webhook are the only traffic allowed to make calls to your localhost app. Note: This ngrok feature is limited to 500 validations per month on free ngrok accounts. For unlimited, upgrade to Pro or Enterprise. This is a quick step to add extra protection to your application.
  1. Access your Airship application from the Applications page.
  2. On the top menu, click Settings, click Open Channels under the Channels section, and then click Edit in the My Local Webhook tile.
  3. Select Signature in the Authentication field, enter 12345 in the Secret Key field, and then click Update.
  4. Create a traffic policy file named airship_policy.yml, replacing {your webhook secret} with the value of the Secret Key field: 
    on_http_request:
  - actions:
      - type: verify-webhook
        config:
          provider: airship
          secret: "{your webhook secret}"
  5. Restart your ngrok agent by running the command: 
    ngrok http 3000 --traffic-policy-file airship_policy.yml
  6. Access your Airship application and create a new message.
Verify that your local application receives the request and logs information to the terminal.