tutorials / first-webhook

Your First Webhook

5 min

Create a Stripe source, stream events to your terminal, and inspect a full CloudEvent payload — no local server, no tunnels.

Prerequisites

  • • Kite CLI installed (Installation guide)
  • • A Stripe account (free, no card needed for test mode)
01

Install & log in

If you haven't installed Kite yet, run:

$ curl -fsSL https://getkite.sh/install | sh
$ kite login

kite login opens a browser tab for device auth. Agents can skip this — see the x402 bootstrap guide.

02

Create a Stripe endpoint

Register a Stripe source. Kite prints a webhook URL you'll paste into Stripe.

$ kite endpoints create --source stripe

Output includes a webhook_url like https://hooks.getkite.sh/e/<id>. Copy it.

03

Point Stripe at Kite

  1. a.Open the Stripe Dashboard → Developers → Webhooks → Add endpoint.
  2. b.Paste your Kite webhook URL and select events to listen for (e.g. payment_intent.succeeded).
  3. c.Save the endpoint.

Already have events? Any HTTPS sender works — just replace the Stripe URL with your Kite endpoint.

04

Stream events to your terminal

Start streaming. Filter to Stripe so you only see relevant events:

$ kite stream --source stripe

Add --json for full CloudEvent payloads. Add --compact for one-liners.

05

Trigger a test event

In the Stripe Dashboard, click Send test webhook on your endpoint. Or send one directly with curl:

$ curl -X POST https://hooks.getkite.sh/e/<your-endpoint-id> \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type":"payment_intent.succeeded","data":{"amount":4200}}'

Replace <your-endpoint-id> with the ID from step 02.

06

Inspect the CloudEvent payload

Re-run with --json to see the full payload:

$ kite stream --source stripe --json

Each event arrives as a CloudEvent v1.0 envelope:

{
  "specversion": "1.0",
  "id":          "evt_3OxABC...",
  "source":      "stripe",
  "type":        "com.stripe.payment_intent.succeeded",
  "time":        "2026-04-08T10:00:00Z",
  "datacontenttype": "application/json",
  "data": {
    "type":   "payment_intent.succeeded",
    "data":   { "amount": 4200, "currency": "usd" },
    "livemode": false
  }
}

You're live

Stripe events are now streaming to your terminal as CloudEvents. No server, no ngrok, no polling.

For AI Agents

Agents can receive webhooks without a browser login. Use the listen command with a Unix socket, or bootstrap credentials via x402.

Unix socket (MCP / local agent)

$ kite listen --socket /tmp/kite-stripe.sock --source stripe

Your agent reads structured events from the socket. Works with any MCP or OpenClaw agent that supports Unix socket I/O.

x402 bootstrap (headless auth)

curl -X POST https://api.getkite.sh/api/v1/bootstrap/x402 \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"source":"stripe","deposit_atomic":1000000,"plan":"starter"}'

Returns credentials your agent can use to call kite stream immediately. See the x402 bootstrap guide.

What's next

kite.json Manifest

Route events to HTTP sinks, files, or exec targets.

Filtering Events

Filter by source, event type, or custom expressions.

Agent Pipelines

Wire Kite into an AI agent event loop.

CloudEvents

Understand the CloudEvent v1.0 envelope Kite uses.