Converting HTTP targets to webhooks

Tip: HTTP targets are being deprecated in February 2022. If you need assistance converting your existing HTTP targets, contact Zendesk Customer Support.

Fastpath: Admin Center > Apps and integrations > Webhooks > Webhooks

HTTP targets in Zendesk Support are being replaced with webhooks, which are created and managed in Zendesk Admin Center. There is a simple conversion process in Admin Center that you can use to convert your existing HTTP targets to webhooks.

This article contains the following sections:

• About converting targets to webhooks
• Preparing HTTP targets to be converted
• Converting HTTP targets to webhooks in Admin Center
• Viewing the conversion log
• Retrying a conversion
• Reverting a converted webhook back to a target

About converting targets to webhooks

Consider the following before converting your targets.

• The conversion tool only converts HTTP targets.
• Targets must be active to be converted. Disabled and deactivated targets won’t be converted.
• Webhooks don’t support HTTP authentication. Any targets that use authentication must be updated to use HTTPS before you can convert them.
• All eligible targets will be converted. It isn’t possible to convert one target at a time.
• Targets will remain active until they’ve been successfully converted or until HTTP targets are deprecated.
• If any part of the conversion fails, everything related to the target(s) that failed is rolled back. In no circumstances should a failed conversion affect existing configurations of triggers and business rules.
• The conversion is fully reversible until HTTP targets are deprecated. If, for any reason, you want to revert a target you converted, you can do so.

Preparing HTTP targets to be converted

There are two scenarios in which targets cannot be converted:

• Targets use HTTP instead of HTTPS and have basic authentication enabled 
• Targets are inactive

In most cases, there are simple ways to modify the targets so that they can be included in the conversion.

Changing from HTTP to HTTPS

Note: Make sure the server contacted by the webhook supports HTTPS before you change to HTTPS or convert to webhooks. If you convert your targets to HTTPS or webhooks and the server doesn’t support HTTPS, future requests will fail.

During the conversion process, you can choose to Convert unsecure targets to secure webhooks (HTTPS) or skip them. If you choose to convert insecure targets, no action is required to resolve this ahead of time.

If you wish to convert only some of your HTTP targets that use HTTP, you can manually update the URLs for just those targets and then select Don’t convert unsecure targets during the conversion process.

To change a target URL from HTTP to HTTPS

1. In Admin Center, click the Apps and integrations icon () in the sidebar, then select Targets > Targets.
2. Find the target in the list and click Edit.
3. Update the Url value to use https.
4. Select Update target from the drop-down and click Submit.

Making sure targets are active

Only active HTTP targets are eligible for conversion.

To activate a target

1. In Admin Center, click the Apps and integrations icon () in the sidebar, then select Targets > Targets.
2. Find the target you want to reactivate inn the Inactive targets list and click activate.

Converting HTTP targets to webhooks in Admin Center

The conversion process starts by cloning all existing targets. The business rules are then modified to use webhooks instead of targets. The final step is deactivating the targets and activating the webhooks.

If the conversion is successful, the HTTP targets are deactivated, the webhooks are activated, and the business rules are updated almost simultaneously.

If the conversion of a target failed, the target and corresponding triggers will remain active and unchanged.

To convert HTTP targets to webhooks

1. In Admin Center, click the Apps and integrations icon () in the sidebar, then select Webhooks > Webhooks.
2. Click Get Started.

   If you have targets that are eligible for conversion, you’ll be guided through the conversion process.

3. Click Manage targets to ensure your targets are prepared for the conversion and then click Next.
4. Review the summary of eligible targets and click Convert targets.
5. If insecure (HTTP) targets are detected, you can choose to Convert unsecure targets to secure webhooks (HTTPS) or Don’t convert unsecure targets.
   Note: Converting insecure targets to secure webhooks could break your workflows if your server doesn’t support HTTPS.
6. Click View targets conversion log to see which targets were successfully converted as well as any that failed.

Targets skipped during conversion

Before converting targets, you may see a number of targets that will be skipped. This means no action will be taken on them as part of the conversion process. Reasons why a target may be skipped during the conversion include:

• Targets created from integrations, such as Salesforce

Viewing the conversion log

At the end of the conversion process, there’s a prompt to view the conversion log. You can also access it at any time from the Webhooks page. To view the conversion log, click Actions at the top of the page and then click View targets conversion log.

The conversion log has three tabs: failed to convert, converted, and converting. Each tab includes the number of webhooks in each state and a menu of actions available for each target in that state.

• The Converting tab is only populated during the conversion process. It should be empty most of the time.
• The Converted tab shows a record of all webhooks that were successfully converted. From this tab you can view a webhook in more detail, revert a webhook back to a target, and find the conversion ID for a given webhook.
• The Failed to convert tab shows a record of each eligible target that didn’t convert successfully. Use this tab to see the details about why the conversion failed and retry the conversion for each target.

Retrying a conversion

From the Conversion Log, you can see which targets failed to convert and retry the conversion.

To retry the conversion of a target

1. In Admin Center, click the Apps and integrations icon () in the sidebar, then select Webhooks > Webhooks.
2. Click Actions at the top of the page and then click View targets conversion log.
3. Click the Failed to convert tab, and find the target you want to retry.
4. Resolve the error described for the target.
5. Click the options icon () on the target's row and click Retry conversion.

   While the conversion is retried, the target will be listed on the Converting tab. When the conversion retry is complete, the target will either be moved to the Converted tab or the information about the target’s failed conversion will be updated on the Failed to convert tab and the target will be moved to the top of the table.

Resolving conversion errors

The following are the most common reasons target conversions might fail.

Failure	Reason	Fix
Failed to update trigger	The update to the trigger that is calling the webhook failed. This if often caused by an invalid trigger configuration, unrelated to the conversion.	Review your triggers to ensure they can be modified and saved, then try the conversion again.
Failed to update target	The update to disable the HTTP target failed. This is typically caused by an invalid target configuration, such as an invalid target URL.	Review your HTTP targets and ensure that the targets can be modified and saved, then try the conversion again.
Failed to update webhook	The webhook wasn't created because of validation issues.	Review your HTTP targets to ensure they are properly prepared to be converted, then try the conversion again.

Reverting a converted webhook back to a target

Until HTTP targets are deprecated, any targets that are converted to webhooks can be reverted back to targets if any issues are encountered.

Note: New webhooks created in Admin Center can’t be converted to an HTTP target. This only applies to targets that were converted to webhooks.

To revert a webhook to a target

1. In Admin Center, click the Apps and integrations icon () in the sidebar, then select Webhooks > Webhooks.
2. Click Actions at the top of the page and then click View targets conversion log.
3. Click the Converted tab, and find the target you want to revert to a target.
4. Click the action menu icon () and click Revert to target.

   After the webhook is successfully reverted to a target, it's removed from the list on the Converted tab.