Debugging Stripe Webhooks: A Visual Guide

Stripe's developer experience is world-class, but debugging failed webhooks can still be a nightmare. Is it a signature mismatch? A timeout? A malformed payload?

Visualizing the Invisible

The hardest part of debugging webhooks is their ephemeral nature. They happen, and then they're gone. By converting a webhook payload into a visual document, you can inspect the `Stripe-Signature` header, break down the timestamp (`t=...`), and verify the v1 signature (`v1=...`) manually if needed.

Common Pitfalls

• Time Drift: If your server clock is more than 5 minutes off, valid signatures will fail.
• Raw Body Access: Many frameworks automatically parse JSON. Signature verification requires the raw request body.