Webhooks & Sales Notifications

Webhooks allow your systems to receive real-time notifications about events occurring in your Publica.la store. This guide provides detailed implementation instructions for setting up and processing webhook notifications.

info

For a high-level overview of notification options, see the Notifications Overview.

Supported Events

The following events trigger webhook notifications:

• Sale of a single publication
• Sale of a prepaid plan
• Monthly payment of a recurring plan

How Webhooks Work

A webhook is a POST request sent to your specified URL. The request body contains a parameter called "token" which is a JWT (JSON Web Token) containing all event information.

The JWT is signed using the HS256 algorithm, allowing you to verify that the webhook is genuinely from Publica.la.

Configuration

To set up webhooks:

1. Provide a publicly accessible URL endpoint
2. Create a signing key for authentication
3. Configure both in your store dashboard at /dashboard/settings#integrations

Your endpoint must return a 2xx response code (200, 201, etc.) to acknowledge receipt. If any other response is returned, our system will consider the notification failed and will make 2 additional attempts with a 3-hour delay between each.

Implementation Details

Request Format

The webhook request body uses the following JSON format:

{
  "json": {
    "token_type": "jwt",
    "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWIiOiIxMjM0NTY3ODkwIiwibmFtZSI6IkpvaG4gRG9lIiwiaWF0IjoxNTE2MjM5MDIyfQ.SflKxwRJSMeKKF2QT4fwpMeJf36POk6yJV_adQssw5c"
  }
}

JWT Properties

All webhook JWTs share these characteristics:

• Issuer (iss): Always set to "farfalla"
• Validity: Tokens are valid for 5 minutes from creation
• Subject (sub): Indicates the event type (e.g., "sale")
• Audience (aud): Contains your store's slug (e.g., "yourstore")

Verifying JWTs

You should always verify the JWT signature using your signing key before processing the webhook data. This ensures the notification is authentic and hasn't been tampered with.

Helpful Resources

• JWT Introduction
• JWT Debugger
• JWT Libraries
• Webhook Testing Tool

Sales Notifications

Sales notifications can be delivered through webhooks or by email. The notification payload is identical regardless of delivery method.

Timing

• Notifications are sent 20 minutes after a sale is confirmed
• Offline payments (e.g., Rapipago, Easy Payment) may take up to 72 hours to be confirmed by providers
• For recurring subscriptions, notifications are sent each month when an invoice is paid successfully

Payload Format

{
  "event_type": "sale",
  "event_subtype": "single",
  "uuid": "0d2d4b9a-1660-4418-8f51-96840b780190",
  "job_id": "1231412",
  "queued_at": 1554388826,
  "environment": "live",
  "payload": {
    "user": {
      "external_id": null,
      "uuid": "3909be20-ff61-4e14-8c8b-9fd334a9ecf6",
      "email": "[email protected]",
      "name": "Charles N Salinas",
      "national_id": "123456",
      "billing_information": {
        "address_line_1": "123 Main Street",
        "address_line_2": "Apt 4B",
        "city": "Austin",
        "state": "Texas",
        "country": "USA",
        "postal_code": "78701",
        "other_information": null
      }
    },
    "payment_details": {
      "gateway": "stripe",
      "method": "card",
      "recurring_cycle": null,
      "store": "Example Store",
      "content_owner": "Example Store",
      "status": "approved",
      "sale_type": "retail",
      "publicala_percentage": 10,
      "exchange_rate": 1,
      "payout_currency_id": "USD",
      "payout_amount_in_cents": 1800
    },
    "user_plan": {
      "uuid": "699ed863-0445-4570-9f6b-4fa0fd350052",
      "plan_type": "single",
      "currency_id": "USD",
      "amount": 2000,
      "gateway": "stripe",
      "own_gateway": 0
    },
    "issue": {
      "external_id": "9781234567890",
      "name": "Example Publication",
      "description": "",
      "publication_date": "2023-07-16",
      "prices": [
        {
          "currency_id": "USD",
          "amount": 2000
        },
        {
          "currency_id": "EUR",
          "amount": 1800
        }
      ],
      "file_type": "pdf",
      "reader_url": "https://example.publica.la/reader/example-publication",
      "is_free_until": null,
      "require_login_when_free": 0,
      "is_free": 0,
      "publishers": ["Publisher Name"],
      "publishing_group": null
    },
    "plan": {
      "type": "recurring",
      "name": "Premium Subscription",
      "detail": null,
      "id": 432,
      "external_id": 4412
    },
    "coupon": {
      "code": "WELCOME25",
      "amount": 25,
      "uses": 1,
      "use_limit": 10,
      "valid_to": "2024-05-01"
    }
  }
}

Field Definitions

Root Properties

Field	Type	Description
event_type	string	Type of event (e.g., "sale")
event_subtype	string	Subtype specification (e.g., "single")
uuid	string	Unique identifier for this notification
job_id	string	Internal job identifier
queued_at	integer	Unix timestamp when notification was queued
environment	string	"live" or "test" environment indicator
payload	object	Main content of the notification

User Object

Field	Type	Description
uuid	string	Unique user identifier
email	string	User's email address (may be null)
external_id	string	External system identifier (may be null)
name	string	User's name from billing profile
national_id	string	User's tax or ID number
billing_information	object	User's billing address and details

Payment Details

Field	Type	Description
gateway	string	Payment processor used (e.g., "stripe")
method	string	Payment method (e.g., "card")
recurring_cycle	integer	Payment cycle number (null for one-time payments)
store	string	Store name
status	string	Payment status (e.g., "approved")
publicala_percentage	integer	Platform fee percentage
payout_amount_in_cents	integer	Amount to be paid to the store (in cents)

User Plan / Issue / Plan

These objects contain details about what was purchased, including pricing, access, and identification information.

Handling Different Notification Types

Single Publication Purchase

For single publication purchases, the event_subtype will be "single" and the issue object will contain publication details.

Subscription Plan Purchase

For subscription purchases, the event_subtype will be "plan" and the plan object will contain subscription details.

Recurring Payment

For recurring payments, the event_subtype will be "recurring" and the recurring_cycle field in payment_details will indicate which payment cycle it represents.

Implementing Webhook Receivers

Example Implementation (Node.js)

const express = require('express');
const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');
const app = express();

app.use(express.json());

const WEBHOOK_SECRET = 'your_signing_key_here';

app.post('/webhook/publica', (req, res) => {
  try {
    // Extract JWT token
    const { token } = req.body.json;

    // Verify JWT signature
    const decoded = jwt.verify(token, WEBHOOK_SECRET, {
      algorithms: ['HS256'],
      issuer: 'farfalla',
    });

    // Process event based on type
    if (decoded.sub === 'sale') {
      // Handle sale event
      console.log('Sale notification received:', decoded);
      // Process sale data...
    }

    // Acknowledge receipt
    res.status(200).send('OK');
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Webhook processing error:', error);
    // Still return 200 to prevent retries if we received the data
    // but had issues processing it
    res.status(200).send('Received but error in processing');
  }
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Webhook receiver listening on port 3000');
});

Best Practices

1. Idempotency: Process notifications idempotently to handle potential duplicate deliveries
2. Signature Verification: Always verify the JWT signature
3. Error Handling: Implement robust error handling in your webhook processor
4. Monitoring: Set up monitoring to detect failed webhook processing
5. Logging: Maintain detailed logs of received webhooks for troubleshooting

Related Documentation

• Notifications Overview
• Instant Payment Notifications
• API Reference