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Webhook Payloads

When you create a verification link with a webhook_url, BotShield will POST a JSON event to that URL as soon as the verification state changes. This is the recommended way to receive results — polling is supported but adds latency and cost.

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Event Types

Three events can fire per verification request:
EventWhen it fires
verification.successUser completed the biometric challenge successfully
verification.failedUser explicitly denied / cancelled, or the flow errored out
verification.expiredThe verification link TTL lapsed without a response
Exactly one event fires per verification request. Once an event has been delivered, the request is terminal — no further events will fire for that request_id.

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Success Payload

{
  "event": "verification.success",
  "event_id": "evt_9d2f8b1c...",
  "request_id": "req_xyz789...",
  "organization_id": "org_abc123",
  "botshield_user_id": "728bc0c7-fb96-4ac9-b0e7-fa560374a079",
  "auth_mode": "private",
  "verified_at": "2026-04-14T12:00:00Z",
  "user_email": "[email protected]",
  "verification_token": "eyJhbGc...",
  "signal_strength": "strong",
  "metadata": {
    "order_id": "checkout-12345"
  }
}

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Fields

FieldTypeDescription
eventstringAlways "verification.success"
event_idstringUnique event ID for idempotency. Safe to dedupe on.
request_idstringThe verification request ID you received when creating the link
organization_idstringYour organization ID
botshield_user_iduuidPseudonymous BotShield user ID. Stable for this user across verifications on this account.
auth_modeenum"linked-account" (user chose to associate with your platform) or "private" (anonymous)
verified_atstringISO 8601 timestamp of the biometric event
user_emailstring or nullUser email (only present when auth_mode === "linked-account")
verification_tokenstringSigned JWT receipt. Validate with sdk/verify-token.
signal_strengthenumV1.2 tier: newborn / growing / strong / trusted. See Signal Strength.
metadataobject or nullWhatever metadata object you included when creating the verification link

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Failed Payload

{
  "event": "verification.failed",
  "event_id": "evt_...",
  "request_id": "req_xyz789...",
  "organization_id": "org_abc123",
  "reason": "user_denied",
  "failed_at": "2026-04-14T12:00:12Z",
  "metadata": {
    "order_id": "checkout-12345"
  }
}
reason is one of: user_denied, device_lock_required, internal_error, platform_declined.

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Expired Payload

{
  "event": "verification.expired",
  "event_id": "evt_...",
  "request_id": "req_xyz789...",
  "organization_id": "org_abc123",
  "expired_at": "2026-04-14T12:10:00Z",
  "metadata": {
    "order_id": "checkout-12345"
  }
}
The default verification link TTL is 10 minutes. If the user does not complete the flow in that window, verification.expired fires.

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Validating the Webhook

  1. Verify the signature using the signed verification_token — call sdk/verify-token to confirm the token was issued by BotShield and has not been tampered with.
  2. Check event_id for idempotency — BotShield may retry on delivery failure. Dedupe on event_id to avoid double-processing.
  3. Apply your policy based on signal_strength — the tier tells you how confident BotShield is. Your platform decides what tier gates which actions. See the Signal Strength guide.
app.post('/api/botshield-webhook', async (req, res) => {
  const { event, event_id, verification_token, signal_strength, request_id } = req.body;

  // Deduplicate
  if (await seenEvent(event_id)) return res.status(200).end();
  await recordEvent(event_id);

  if (event === 'verification.success') {
    // Validate the token signature + extract claims
    const result = await botshield.sdk.verifyToken({ token: verification_token });
    if (!result.data.valid) return res.status(400).end();

    // signal_strength is also in result.data.claims.signal_strength
    const tier = result.data.claims.signal_strength;
    await completeCheckout(request_id, tier);
  }

  res.status(200).end();
});

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Delivery and Retries

  • BotShield sends webhooks over HTTPS with Content-Type: application/json.
  • If your endpoint returns a non-2xx status, BotShield retries with exponential backoff up to 3 attempts over 5 minutes.
  • A 200 OK response (empty body is fine) acknowledges receipt.
  • Webhooks that fail all retries are logged; you can replay them from the Partner Dashboard.