Configure Commerce App Webhooks

Adds or modifies webhook interceptors in an existing app.commerce.config.ts. Webhooks intercept Commerce operations — you can validate input, append data, or modify behavior before or after an operation executes. Other extensibility domains (events, business config) are added separately via their own skills.

Prerequisites

• Verify the app is scaffolded and initialized, not merely that the config exists. Require both:
  • app.commerce.config.ts present in the project root, and
  • the project initialized — signalled by the generated src/commerce-extensibility-1/ directory and installed node_modules (the @adobe/aio-commerce-lib-app dependency).
• If app.commerce.config.ts is missing, stop and invoke commerce-app-init first (it writes the config, then runs init).
• If the config is present but the project is not initialized (no src/commerce-extensibility-1/ or node_modules), run npx @adobe/aio-commerce-lib-app init before continuing. Init is idempotent — it finds the existing config, skips the interactive prompts, installs dependencies, and generates the project files.
• Actions can be authored in TypeScript only once the project has the TypeScript build setup (webpack-config.cjs + root tsconfig.json) that init scaffolds for a TypeScript Commerce config — see commerce-app-init. Otherwise, author actions in JavaScript.

Step 1 — Understand intent

Ask the user what they want to intercept and how:

• What operation: the webhook_method (the Commerce operation, e.g., plugin.magento.catalog_product.save) and webhook_type (before or after)
• How the handler is reached: either a runtime action in this app (runtimeAction: "<package>/<action>") or an explicit external URL (webhook.url) — these are mutually exclusive
• Category (optional): validation (block if invalid), append (add data), or modification (alter data) — used for conflict detection
• Batch and hook identifiers: batch_name groups related hooks; hook_name uniquely identifies this hook within the batch

Step 2 — Derive config values

Apply the following validation rules before writing. Surface any issues to the user before proceeding.

Step 3 — Update app.commerce.config.ts

Add entries to the top-level webhooks array (or create it), preserving all other domains. If the config already has a webhooks key, append to it rather than replacing it.

Minimal examples:

// Runtime action handler (handler lives in this app)
webhooks: [
  {
    label: "Validate Product Save",
    description: "Validates product data before saving.",
    category: "validation", // optional
    runtimeAction: "my-package/validate-product", // <package>/<action>
    webhook: {
      webhook_method: "plugin.magento.catalog_product.save",
      webhook_type: "before",
      batch_name: "my_app", // [a-zA-Z0-9_]+ only
      hook_name: "validate_product", // [a-zA-Z0-9_]+ only
      method: "POST",
    },
  },
];

// URL handler (external endpoint)
webhooks: [
  {
    label: "Fraud Check",
    description: "Calls external fraud service before order placement.",
    webhook: {
      webhook_method: "plugin.magento.sales_order.place",
      webhook_type: "before",
      batch_name: "my_app",
      hook_name: "fraud_check",
      method: "POST",
      url: "https://fraud.example.com/check", // inside webhook object, not top level
    },
  },
];

Each entry also accepts an optional env array ("paas" / "saas") to scope it to specific Commerce environments. When omitted, the webhook applies to all environments; when set, it is only subscribed at install time on the listed environments.

See assets/webhooks-config.ts for the full annotated reference.

Creating the handler action

For webhook entries that use runtimeAction, create the action file under src/actions/ and register it in app.config.yaml.

Register the action

Add a user-defined package to src/commerce-extensibility-1/ext.config.yaml alongside the existing app-management package. Use any name except app-management (reserved by the framework):

# src/commerce-extensibility-1/ext.config.yaml
# (add below the auto-generated app-management package)
runtimeManifest:
  packages:
    app-management:
      # ... auto-generated — do not edit
    my-app: # your package name — any name except "app-management"
      actions:
        validate-product:
          function: actions/validate-product/index.js # relative to src/commerce-extensibility-1/
          web: "yes"
          runtime: nodejs:24
          annotations:
            require-adobe-auth: true

The <package>/<action> format in runtimeAction maps directly: my-app/validate-product → package my-app, action validate-product.

Handler skeleton

// src/commerce-extensibility-1/actions/validate-product/index.ts
import {
  ok,
  successOperation,
  exceptionOperation,
  addOperation,
  replaceOperation,
  removeOperation,
} from "@adobe/aio-commerce-lib-webhooks/responses";

export async function main(params: Record<string, unknown>) {
  // params contains the Commerce operation payload

  // Allow the operation to proceed
  return ok(successOperation());

  // Block the operation (validation failure)
  // return ok(exceptionOperation("Product SKU is required"));

  // Append data to the operation result
  // return ok(addOperation("result/custom_field", { value: "appended" }));

  // Modify a field in the result
  // return ok(replaceOperation("result/price", 99.99));

  // Remove a field from the result
  // return ok(removeOperation("result/unwanted_field"));
}

Operation types:

Step 4 — Regenerate the installation action

If webhooks is the first install-requiring domain in the config (the others are eventing.commerce, eventing.external, adminUi, installation.customInstallationSteps), re-run:

npx @adobe/aio-commerce-lib-app init

This is what adds the installation action to ext.config.yaml's app-management package — aio app build/aio app deploy only read the existing file, they never regenerate it. Skip this and Commerce has no endpoint to call, so the webhook builds and deploys fine but never actually gets installed. Safe to re-run even when the action already exists.

Step 5 — Validate

Build the project to confirm the updated config is valid:

aio app build

A build failure with a validation error points directly to the offending config field. If this webhook needed Step 4, also check that ext.config.yaml now has actions.installation under app-management.

Common Issues

• batch_name or hook_name rejected: Use underscores as separators (my_app, validate_product_save) — hyphens, dots, and spaces are not accepted.
• Both runtimeAction and webhook.url set: These are mutually exclusive — use runtimeAction when the handler lives in this app; webhook.url for an external endpoint.
• url at wrong level: For URL-based entries, url must be inside the nested webhook object, not at the top level alongside label.
• app-management package name conflict: The framework generates this package in ext.config.yaml on every build. Use any other name for your own actions.
• Function path is relative to src/commerce-extensibility-1/: Do not use src/... or project-root-relative paths. actions/validate-product/index.js resolves correctly; src/commerce-extensibility-1/actions/validate-product/index.js does not.
• defineConfig not found: Ensure @adobe/aio-commerce-lib-app is installed and defineConfig is imported from @adobe/aio-commerce-lib-app/config.
• Webhook deployed but Commerce never calls it: init wasn't re-run after adding the first install-requiring domain (Step 4) — no installation action, no install endpoint.

Quality Bar

• aio app build completes without errors
• installation action present in ext.config.yaml when this webhook requires it

Chaining

After aio app build passes:

• Add merchant settings — invoke commerce-app-business-config to expose configurable settings in Commerce Admin
• Add event subscriptions — invoke commerce-app-eventing to subscribe to Commerce or external events
• Extend the Admin UI — invoke commerce-app-admin-ui to add custom columns, mass actions, order view buttons, or menu entries in Commerce Admin
• Add persistent storage — invoke commerce-app-storage to back webhook handlers with queryable DB storage

References

• assets/webhooks-config.ts — Reference config showing both runtime action and URL-based webhook entry shapes