Reference

Respond to Webhook

Respond to Webhook (respondToWebhook) sends a custom HTTP response to the caller of a Webhook Trigger. Set the trigger’s When to respond mode to Using a Respond to Webhook step.

At a glance

Last verified: Nov 4, 2026

Use it to: Return a custom HTTP status code, headers, JSON/text body, or redirect to a waiting Webhook caller
Cost: 1 Step credit per execution
Limits: 1 MiB max response body · Caller waits up to 60 seconds
Find it: Tools → Data → Dev tools → Respond to Webhook
Output: {{ N.statusCode }}, {{ N.headers }}, {{ N.body }}
Instead: Webhook Trigger in When the last step finishes mode (when the final Step's output is the reply)
Applies to: All workspaces (Free & Paid)
Owner: Glow Docs & Engineering

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In held-request mode (when the Webhook Trigger has When to respond set to Using a Respond to Webhook step), Glow holds the caller’s HTTP connection open for up to 60 seconds. When the first passing Respond to Webhook Step finishes, Glow sends its status code, headers, and body immediately. Downstream Steps continue running in the background. When When to respond is Immediately instead, a Live automation replies 200 OK with {"success": true}. A Draft automation returns 202 Accepted with {"received": true} without starting a run.

Webhook (Using a Respond to Webhook step)Lookup or transform dataRespond to WebhookBackground follow-up Steps

Setting it up

Set the Webhook Trigger to wait for this Step

Select your Webhook Trigger at Step 1 and set When to respond (responseMode) to Using a Respond to Webhook step.

Add Respond to Webhook

Open Tools → Data → Dev tools in the dock and select Respond to Webhook. Connect it on the branch that should reply to the caller.

Configure the response

Choose how to reply under Respond with (respondWith):

Option	Value	Fields & behavior
JSON (default)	`"json"`	Sends Body (`body`) as `application/json` (leave objects, lists, numbers, and booleans unquoted like `"profile": {{ 2 }}` to preserve native JSON types). Set Status code from `200` to `599` (default `200`).
Text	`"text"`	Sends Body as `text/plain; charset=utf-8` (unless you set a custom `Content-Type` header).
Redirect	`"redirect"`	Sends a `Location` header to Redirect URL (`redirectUrl`, must start with `https://`, up to `2,048` characters) with status `301`, `302`, `303`, `307`, or `308` (defaults to `302`).
No body	`"noData"`	Sends status and headers with an empty body (`Status code` `204`, `205`, or `304` also send no body automatically).

Under Optional Props, add up to 50 Headers ({ name, value } pairs). Allowed headers include content-type, cache-control, content-language, etag, last-modified, expires, vary, retry-after, and custom x-* headers. Hop-by-hop, cookie, CORS, and security headers are refused.

Do not return credentials in a webhook response. Workspace secrets and API keys ({{ $secret.* }}, {{ $key.* }}, or sealed variables) are refused with SECRET_IN_UNSAFE_SINK.

What it passes on

The Step records the response it sent so downstream Steps (or your test trace) can inspect it:

Reference	Type	What it holds
`{{ N.statusCode }}`	Number	The HTTP status code sent to the caller (for example `200` or `302`).
`{{ N.headers }}`	Record	Normalized lowercase map of the headers sent with the reply.
`{{ N.body }}`	Text or `null`	The exact response text sent, or `null` for No body and Redirect.

If multiple Respond to Webhook Steps run, the first passing Step sends the HTTP reply. Later executions record their output without overwriting the sent response.

Limits and held-request statuses

Callers can pass an optional x-glow-correlation-id request header when calling a held webhook (Using a Respond to Webhook step or When the last step finishes) to prevent duplicate executions on client retries. Every held-webhook error response returns a JSON object with {"error", "message", "executionId"}:

Limit or situation	Behavior
Maximum held request wait	60 seconds. If the Step has not run within 60 seconds, the caller receives `504` (`error: "timeout"`) with `executionId`, and the run continues in the background.
Maximum response body size	1 MiB (`1,048,576` bytes). Larger or invalid bodies return `500` (`error: "response_not_sendable"`) with `executionId`.
Run finishes without reaching Respond to Webhook	The caller receives `500` (`error: "no_response"`) with `executionId`.
Run fails before reaching Respond to Webhook	The caller receives `500` (`error: "workflow_failed"`) with `executionId`.
Request received but no run started (`not_started`)	The caller receives `500` (`error: "not_started"`) with `executionId` when the webhook was changed, turned off, or the run was refused.
Duplicate `x-glow-correlation-id` on a held webhook mode	Returns `409` (`error: "duplicate"`) with the existing run’s `executionId` immediately without starting a second run.

Examples to copy

1. Return a JSON lookup

Look up a customer record in a Data Store and return it synchronously as JSON, then log the access in the background:

Set the Webhook Trigger at Step 1 to When to respond: Using a Respond to Webhook step.
Add Data Store → Get a record (or create it) at Step 2 using {{ 1.body.customerId }} (with Include record details off so Step 2 outputs {"tier": "enterprise", "seats": 25}).
Add Respond to Webhook at Step 3 with Respond with: JSON, Status code: 200, and Body:


{
  "customerId": "{{ 1.body.customerId }}",
  "profile": {{ 2 }}
}

Caller request (curl):


curl -X POST "https://api.getglow.ai/webhooks/wh_01J9..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-glow-correlation-id: req-1042" \
  -d '{"customerId": "cust_42"}'

HTTP response received by the caller (200 OK):


{
  "customerId": "cust_42",
  "profile": {
    "tier": "enterprise",
    "seats": 25
  }
}

2. Validate (400 or 200)

Branch with Conditions to return 400 when a required field is missing or 200 when valid:

Configure Webhook Trigger with Using a Respond to Webhook step.
Add Conditions at Step 2 checking whether {{ 1.body.email }} is not empty.
On the matching branch, run your action and end with Respond to Webhook (Status code: 200, Body: {"ok": true}).
On the Else branch, add a second Respond to Webhook Step with Status code: 400 and Body: {"error": "email is required"}.

3. Text, Redirect & No body (204)

Plain text challenge (Respond with: Text): Set Status code to 200 and Body to {{ 1.body.challenge }}. Sends text/plain; charset=utf-8 (or set a custom Content-Type header such as text/html).
Browser redirect (Respond with: Redirect): Set Status code to 302 (or 303 after a form POST) and Redirect URL to https://example.com/thank-you?id={{ 2.id }}. Glow sends the Location header with body: null.
Empty acknowledgement (Respond with: No body): Set Status code to 204 to acknowledge receipt with an empty HTTP body (body: null) while background Steps continue.

Verify it works

Run: Set the Webhook Trigger to Using a Respond to Webhook step, configure Status code 200 and a JSON body, and run a test
You should see: The Step outputs {{ N.statusCode }}, {{ N.headers }}, and {{ N.body }}, and the test trace records the webhook response.

What’s Next?

Webhook Trigger →: configure signature verification and response modes.
Make outbound API calls with HTTP Request.