Automate static site builds with sensenet webhooks

Integration is a key aspect of digital projects, since preferably, all services used in a project should be connected and work together seamlessly. With sensenet webhooks and the built-in webhook templates it’s super easy to achieve such goals. Let’s see how!

What is a webhook

In short, using a webhook is a great way for your application to receive events or notifications from a service.

In terms of sensenet it means your repository can send notifications if something happens with a content. You can configure these webhook subscriptions as you wish, you can set what type of content, which subtree, and what specific events to work with and of course you can set the scope of the data (payload) to be sent.

Webhooks can not only notify your app about what’s happening in your content repository, but also builds up connection between sensenet and your favorite external services. They can be used in many very different cases from sharing information in social media about content changes till rebuilding static websites automatically.

Triggering static site builds

Once you’ve setup a static site that pulls in your content during the build process, you’re ready to configure webhooks that will be triggered when you are working with content in your repository. The next example teach you how to setup webhooks to trigger builds and deployments of static sites on Netlify, but this is just an example. sensenet of course provides you various other options for Heroku fans, Travis CI users and Gatsby Cloud subscribers among others. Check currently available templates here. Webhook templates help you create webhooks subscription for specific external services with just a few steps, by filling only a few required fields. Following example will teach you how to configure a webhook to trigger a Netlify build with a few steps.

Configuring a Netlify build hook

First, go to your static site on Netlify and create a build hook for sensenet (it can be found under Site > Site settings > Build & Deploy > Build hooks). This will be the url that builds up the connection between your repository and the static site.

Then create a new webhook through sensenet admin ui ( Settings > Webhooks) choosing Netlify template:

There are two required fields on the form to fill out: Name and Netlify build hook URL (the url you’ve created above at Netlify Build and Deploy page). You can leave all other fields at default (you can change them at any time later) and that’s it.

By default, this webhook will:

• Trigger a Netlify build
• Triggered when something is happened with a File type content under /Root container
• Triggered on all available events (Create, Modify, Delete, Checkout, Draft, Approve, Pending, Reject)

From now on, if a file is uploaded to the content repository your Netlify site gets built and deployed automatically. Many other webhook templates make it easier to work with external services and sensenet, and of course you have the freedom to configure a webhook as needed for your own project.

If you don’t have a sensenet repository, now is a great time to sign up!

Originally published at https://www.sensenet.com.