Replay | HookDeploy

Replay lets you re-send a captured request to any target URL — typically your local dev server or a staging environment.

When to use replay

Your local server wasn’t running when the webhook arrived
You need to test the same payload multiple times
A teammate captured a webhook and you want to process it locally
Auto-forward failed and you need to retry manually

Replay is on-demand. Unlike auto-forwarding, nothing is re-sent unless you explicitly trigger it.

How replay works

Select a captured request in the dashboard (or reference it via API)
Provide a target_url — must be HTTPS
HookDeploy fetches the original body from R2
HookDeploy sends an HTTP request to target_url with:
- Original method, headers (minus proxy headers), query string, and body
- Added headers:
```
x-hookdeploy-replay: 1
x-hookdeploy-original-request-id: {request-id}
```
Results are stored in the replays table and returned to you

Your target server can detect replays via the x-hookdeploy-replay header and skip side effects if needed (e.g. don’t double-charge a customer).

Replay from the dashboard

Open an endpoint and click a request in the stream
Click Replay
Enter your target URL, e.g. https://abc123.ngrok.io/webhooks/stripe
Click Send

The result panel shows HTTP status code, response time, and any error.

Replay via the API

curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.hookdeploy.dev/v1/endpoints/ENDPOINT_ID/requests/REQUEST_ID/replay" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hd_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"target_url": "https://abc123.ngrok.io/webhooks/stripe"}'

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "status_code": 200,
    "response_time_ms": 142,
    "success": true,
    "error": null
  }
}

On failure:

{
  "data": {
    "status_code": null,
    "response_time_ms": null,
    "success": false,
    "error": "Connection refused"
  }
}

Field	Description
`status_code`	HTTP status from your target server, or `null` on connection failure
`response_time_ms`	Round-trip time to your target
`success`	`true` if your server returned 2xx
`error`	Error message if the connection failed entirely

Requires the requests.replay permission — held by super admin, admin, developer, and viewer roles.

Replay history

Every replay is recorded in the replays table with the target URL, status, timing, and timestamp. Replay history is visible in the dashboard on the request detail page.

There is no limit on replays per request — you can replay the same webhook to different targets as many times as you need. Replays do not count toward your monthly request ingestion limit (that limit applies to incoming webhooks only).

Target URL requirements

Must start with https://
Must be reachable from HookDeploy’s API Worker (public internet)
localhost URLs won’t work directly — use ngrok, Cloudflare Tunnel, or similar

# This works (via ngrok)
{"target_url": "https://abc123.ngrok.io/webhooks"}

# This fails (not reachable)
{"target_url": "https://localhost:3000/webhooks"}

Replay vs forwarding

	Forwarding	Replay
Trigger	Automatic on every webhook	Manual, one request at a time
Target	Fixed per endpoint	Any URL per replay action
Adds replay headers	No	Yes
Sender waits	No	N/A (sender already got 200)
Use case	Continuous proxy to staging	Debug a specific event locally

Many teams use both: forward to staging for continuous integration testing, replay to localhost for active development.

Security note

Replay sends the exact original payload including any auth tokens or secrets that were in the original request headers. Only replay to servers you trust, and avoid replaying production webhooks containing live credentials to unsecured tunnels.

Next steps

Replay API — Full API reference
Forwarding — Automatic proxy setup
API keys — Authenticate replay requests via API