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Webhooks are the primary way to receive tracking updates from Terminal49. Follow these practices to build a consumer that handles every edge case reliably.

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Respond quickly with a 2xx

Terminal49 expects your endpoint to return one of these status codes: 200, 201, 202, or 204. Return the response before doing any heavy processing. 
app.post("/webhooks/terminal49", (req, res) => {
  // Acknowledge immediately
  res.sendStatus(200);

  // Process asynchronously
  processWebhookAsync(req.body).catch(console.error);
});
Any other response — including a timeout — triggers retries. If your endpoint consistently fails, Terminal49 will retry up to a dozen times before marking the notification as failed.

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Handle retries and duplicate deliveries

Terminal49 retries failed deliveries, which means your endpoint may receive the same notification more than once. Design your consumer to be idempotent. Every webhook notification has a unique id in data.id. Use it to deduplicate: 
async function processWebhook(payload) {
  const notificationId = payload.data.id;

  // Check if already processed
  const alreadyProcessed = await db.webhookLog.findOne({
    where: { notificationId },
  });
  if (alreadyProcessed) {
    return; // Skip duplicate
  }

  // Process the event
  await handleEvent(payload);

  // Record that we processed it
  await db.webhookLog.create({ notificationId, processedAt: new Date() });
}
If you use a message queue (SQS, RabbitMQ, etc.), enqueue the raw payload immediately and return 200. Your queue consumer can handle deduplication and processing at its own pace.

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Verify the webhook source

Terminal49 publishes the IP addresses that webhook notifications originate from. Use the List Webhook IPs endpoint to fetch the current list and validate incoming requests: 
const ALLOWED_IPS = await fetchTerminal49WebhookIPs();

app.post("/webhooks/terminal49", (req, res) => {
  const sourceIp = req.ip;
  if (!ALLOWED_IPS.includes(sourceIp)) {
    return res.sendStatus(403);
  }

  // Process the webhook
  res.sendStatus(200);
});
Cache the IP list and refresh it periodically (e.g., daily). The list rarely changes, but checking the endpoint ensures you stay current.

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Monitor delivery status

Use the Webhook Notifications API to check delivery status and catch any notifications your endpoint may have missed: 
curl -s "https://api.terminal49.com/v2/webhook_notifications?filter[delivery_status]=failed" \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json"
Review failed notifications regularly to identify issues with your endpoint before they cause data gaps.

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Handle downtime gracefully

If your endpoint goes down, Terminal49 retries failed deliveries. When your endpoint recovers:
  1. Check the Webhook Notifications API for any notifications with delivery_status: failed.
  2. Use the Trigger Webhook endpoint to replay specific notifications.
  3. For longer outages, list recent shipments via the API to catch up on any missed state changes.

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Keep your webhook active

Terminal49 may deactivate a webhook after repeated delivery failures. Check your webhook’s active status periodically: 
curl -s "https://api.terminal49.com/v2/webhooks" \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json"
If your webhook has been deactivated, fix the endpoint issue and update the webhook to set active: true.

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Summary checklist

  • Return 2xx immediately, process asynchronously
  • Deduplicate using the notification id
  • Validate the source IP against the webhook IPs list
  • Monitor for failed notifications and replay as needed
  • Subscribe only to the events you need
  • Log raw payloads for debugging