Configure an IFTTT Webhook to Send Custom JSON Payloads

Overview

When an IFTTT trigger fires, the Webhooks service can make an HTTP request to any HTTPS endpoint and send a JSON body built from trigger ingredients.

Step‑by‑step configuration

1. In IFTTT, click Create → If This and choose a trigger, for example RSS Feed → New feed item.
2. Connect the RSS feed URL and finish the trigger setup.
3. Click Then That, search for Webhooks and select Make a web request.
4. Set the fields:
   • URL: your HTTPS endpoint, e.g. https://example.com/ifttt/webhook
   • Method: POST
   • Content Type: application/json
   • Body: a JSON template using ingredients, e.g.

     {"title":"{{EntryTitle}}","url":"{{EntryUrl}}"}

5. Optionally add headers (e.g. Authorization) or filter code under Filter code to run only when {{EntryTitle}} contains a keyword.
6. Finish and name the applet.

Example JSON template

The body above sends a payload like:

{
  "title": "New blog post about IFTTT",
  "url": "https://example.com/blog/ifttt-guide"
}

If the ingredient contains a quote, you must escape it manually because IFTTT does not auto‑escape values.

Testing the webhook

Use a temporary inspector such as RequestBin, webhook.site, or a local server exposed with ngrok.

1. Create a test endpoint that logs the raw request body and headers.
2. Trigger the RSS feed by publishing a new item to the feed.
3. Check the log; you should see a POST request with Content‑Type: application/json and the body matching the template.
4. In IFTTT, open the activity log for the applet; each run shows Success, Skipped or Failed with any error message.

Rate limits and common mistakes

• IFTTT allows roughly 60 Webhooks calls per minute per account. Exceeding this results in skipped executions visible in the activity log.
• The webhook URL must use HTTPS; plain HTTP is rejected and self‑signed certificates are not trusted unless signed by a public CA.
• Ingredient names are case‑sensitive and must be wrapped in double curly braces. A typo (e.g. {{entrytitle}}) sends literal text instead of the value.
• Because the body is not auto‑escaped, embedding an ingredient that contains a double quote or newline can break JSON validity. Manually escape such characters or avoid them in the source data.
• Each applet can contain at most 10 actions; additional Webhooks calls beyond that are ignored.

Practical verification checklist

• Endpoint receives POST with correct Content‑Type.
• JSON body parses without errors.
• Ingredient values appear exactly as expected.
• Activity log shows Success for each trigger event.
• No skipped entries when trigger frequency stays below the per‑minute limit.