Flow Systems Webhook Actions

Description

Flow Systems Webhook Actions is a developer-focused WordPress webhook delivery layer designed for reliable automation workflows.

It adds a persistent queue, automatic retries, and Action Scheduler support for production-grade background processing — so your webhooks don’t get lost when external APIs fail.

Works great with WooCommerce, n8n, Zapier alternatives, and custom APIs.

Includes built-in Contact Form 7 integration — send CF7 form submissions to webhooks instantly with clean, structured payloads. Replace fragile CF7 email workflows with reliable webhook-based automation.

Unlike basic “fire-and-forget” webhook implementations, this plugin ensures:

• Delivery attempts are tracked
• Failures are visible
• Retries are automatic and intelligent
• Events include stable identity metadata for idempotency

Built for production environments where losing events is not acceptable.

👉 Example: Send Contact Form 7 submissions to a webhook (n8n demo)
👉 Example: Send IvyForms submissions to a webhook (n8n demo)

Typical Use Cases

• Send Contact Form 7 submissions to n8n or external APIs
• Send IvyForms submissions to n8n or external APIs
• Build reliable form-to-CRM integrations with retry protection
• Process high-volume WooCommerce webhooks using Action Scheduler
• Send WooCommerce orders to n8n with retry protection
• Sync WordPress users to external CRMs safely
• Trigger backend microservices from WP hooks
• Send event-driven data to internal APIs
• Replace fragile custom wp_remote_post() integrations
• Build idempotent WordPress automation pipelines
• Query delivery logs, trigger retries, or manage webhooks programmatically from CI/CD pipelines or external dashboards using API tokens
• Allow AI coding assistants (e.g. Claude Code) to inspect webhook logs and retry failed events automatically
• Use AI agents to monitor webhook delivery health and operate the queue through the REST API

Event Identity & Idempotency

Every dispatched webhook includes:

• Unique UUID (v4) per event
• ISO 8601 UTC timestamp
• Embedded event.id, event.timestamp, event.version in the payload
• HTTP headers: X-Event-Id, X-Event-Timestamp

This enables downstream deduplication, idempotent workflow design, and reliable debugging across systems.

Reliable Queue & Smart Retry

Webhooks are never sent directly from request execution. Instead:

• Events are stored in a persistent database queue
• Processed asynchronously via background jobs
• Dispatched in batches to avoid performance impact

Smart retry routing:

• 5xx and 429 responses → automatic exponential backoff retry
• 4xx and 3xx responses → immediately marked as permanently_failed
• Configurable maximum retry attempts
• Full attempt history stored per event

No silent failures.

Replay Webhook Events

Webhook debugging is difficult when events cannot be reproduced.

Flow Systems Webhook Actions allows you to replay any webhook event directly from the delivery logs — including successful deliveries.

This makes it easy to:

• Re-run automation workflows
• Debug external integrations
• Recover from temporary endpoint failures
• Test webhook consumers without recreating WordPress events

Each replay uses the original payload and event metadata, ensuring consistent behavior across retries and debugging sessions.

Delivery Observability

Operational visibility built into the admin panel:

Status states: pending, processing, success, failed (retrying), permanently_failed

• Attempt timeline per event
• HTTP status codes and response bodies
• Inspect full request payloads
• Manual retry (single or bulk)
• Replay webhook events for debugging and testing integrations

Filter by: event UUID, target URL, date range, status

Queue health metrics:

• Average attempts per event
• Oldest pending job age
• Queue stuck detection
• WP-Cron-only warning

Designed as an operations console — not just a webhook sender.

Payload Mapping

Adapt outgoing JSON payloads to match any external API:

• Rename fields using dot notation
• Restructure nested objects
• Exclude sensitive or unnecessary data
• Store example payloads for configuration
• Modify via fswa_payload filter

Payloads always include stable event metadata for consistency.

REST API Access with Token Authentication

The plugin exposes a full operational REST API (/wp-json/fswa/v1/) that powers the admin interface and can also be used directly by external tools, automation systems, AI agents, and CI/CD pipelines.

Every endpoint supports dual authentication:

• WordPress admin session (cookie-based, used by the admin panel)
• API token — for programmatic access without a browser session

API Tokens

Create tokens directly from the API Tokens screen in the admin panel. Each token is assigned one of three scopes:

• read — GET access to webhooks, logs, queue, health, triggers, and schemas
• operational — Read + toggle webhooks on/off, retry and replay log entries, execute queue jobs
• full — Operational + create, update, and delete webhooks, schemas, and queue jobs

Token authentication is accepted via:

• X-FSWA-Token: <token> header (recommended)
• Authorization: Bearer <token> header
• ?api_token=<token> query parameter

Tokens can be set to expire and rotated at any time. Rotation issues a new secret immediately while preserving the token’s name, scope, and settings. Token management always requires a WordPress admin login — tokens cannot be used to create or manage other tokens.

Full REST API documentation: REST API Reference

AI Agents and Programmatic Automation

The REST API makes Flow Systems Webhook Actions accessible to AI-powered tools and coding agents.

Automation systems, CI pipelines, and AI coding assistants (such as Claude Code or Cursor) can safely interact with webhook infrastructure using API tokens without requiring WordPress admin sessions.

Typical AI-driven workflows include:

• AI agents monitoring webhook delivery health
• Automatically retrying failed webhook events
• Inspecting delivery logs to debug integrations
• Enabling or disabling webhooks dynamically during deployments
• Managing automation pipelines across environments

Because the API exposes operational endpoints for logs, queue jobs, webhooks, and triggers, external agents can treat WordPress as a programmable event infrastructure.

Example scenarios:

• A Claude Code agent analyzes webhook delivery logs and automatically retries failed integrations.
• A CI/CD pipeline disables webhook triggers during deployments and re-enables them afterward.
• Automation systems query webhook health metrics and alert when the queue becomes stuck.
• External dashboards display real-time webhook delivery metrics using API tokens.

This allows WordPress automation pipelines to be controlled entirely through HTTP APIs, enabling advanced integration with AI-driven development workflows.

Contact Form 7 Webhooks (NEW in 1.5.0)

Flow Systems Webhook Actions includes built-in integration with Contact Form 7.

When Contact Form 7 is active, form submissions are automatically converted into structured webhook payloads — no custom code required.

Included in each payload:

• Form ID and title
• Submission data (all fields)
• Normalized field structure (no raw CF7 format)
• Request metadata
• Uploaded files (where applicable)

Benefits:

• Send CF7 submissions to n8n, APIs, CRMs, or automation tools
• No need for custom hooks or additional plugins
• Clean JSON payloads ready for external processing
• Works with existing webhook retry, queue, and replay system

This allows you to build reliable form-to-automation pipelines directly from WordPress.

Action Scheduler Support (NEW in 1.4.0)

Flow Systems Webhook Actions now supports Action Scheduler — the same background job system used by WooCommerce.

When available, webhook queue processing automatically switches from WP-Cron to Action Scheduler for improved reliability and scalability.

Benefits:

• More reliable background execution than WP-Cron
• Better handling of high-volume webhook traffic
• Persistent job tracking and recovery
• No configuration required — automatic detection and migration

This makes the plugin suitable for production WooCommerce stores and high-throughput automation pipelines.

Developer Friendly

• Works with any WordPress or WooCommerce action
• Full REST API (/wp-json/fswa/v1/) usable from any HTTP client — not just the admin panel
• API token authentication with scoped access (read, operational, full)
• Fully extensible via filters and actions
• Clean namespace and unique prefixes
• Built according to WordPress.org standards
• Supports system cron, WP-Cron, and Action Scheduler (auto-detected)

Why Choose Flow Systems Webhook Actions?

Most WordPress webhook setups fire once, don’t retry intelligently, don’t provide delivery visibility, and don’t expose event identity.

Flow Systems Webhook Actions provides:

• Persistent queue
• Smart retry logic
• Webhook replay for debugging integrations
• Permanent failure state handling
• Event UUIDs and timestamps
• Full delivery logging and metrics
• REST API with token authentication for programmatic access
• Action Scheduler support for reliable background processing (when available)
• Built-in CF7 to webhook support (no extra plugins needed)

Built for developers who need production-grade automation reliability.

Available Filters

• fswa_should_dispatch – Decide if a trigger should dispatch
• fswa_payload – Customize webhook payload
• fswa_headers – Add custom HTTP headers
• fswa_require_https – Toggle HTTPS requirement
• fswa_max_attempts – Configure maximum retry attempts
• fswa_queue_batch_size – Configure batch processing size
• fswa_http_timeout – Configure HTTP request timeout
• fswa_http_connect_timeout – Configure HTTP connect timeout
• fswa_http_args – Customize HTTP request arguments
• fswa_available_triggers – Customize available trigger list

Available Actions

• fswa_success – Fired after successful webhook delivery
• fswa_error – Fired after webhook delivery failure

Admin UX Improvements

• Option to move the plugin menu under “Tools” for a cleaner admin sidebar
• Instant UI refresh when changing menu location