Webhooks

The primary method that Read the Docs uses to detect changes to your documentation and versions is through the use of webhooks. Webhooks are configured with your repository provider, such as GitHub, Bitbucket or GitLab, and with each commit, merge, or other change to your repository, Read the Docs is notified. When we receive a webhook notification, we determine if the change is related to an active version for your project, and if it is, a build is triggered for that version.

Webhook Integrations

You'll find a list of configured webhook integrations on your project's admin dashboard, under Integrations. You can select any of these integrations to see the integration detail page. This page has additional configuration details and a list of HTTP exchanges that have taken place for the integration.

You need this information for the URL, webhook, or Payload URL needed by the repository provider such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket.

Webhook Creation

If you have connected your Read the Docs account to GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab, a webhook will be set up automatically for your repository. However, if your project was not imported through a connected account, you may need to manually configure a webhook for your project.

To manually set up a webhook, go to Admin > Integrations > Add integration dashboard page and select the integration type you'd like to add. After you have added the integration, you'll see a link to information about the integration.

As an example, the URL pattern looks like this: https://readthedocs.org/api/v2/webhook/<project-name>/<id>/.

Use this URL when setting up a new webhook with your provider -- these steps vary depending on the provider.

注釈

If your account is connected to the provider, we'll try to setup the webhook automatically. If something fails, you can still setup the webhook manually.

GitHub

  • Go to the Settings page for your project
  • Click Webhooks > Add webhook
  • For Payload URL, use the URL of the integration on Read the Docs, found on the project's Admin > Integrations page. You may need to prepend https:// to the URL.
  • For Content type, both application/json and application/x-www-form-urlencoded work
  • Leave the Secrets field blank
  • Select Let me select individual events, and mark Branch or tag creation, Branch or tag deletion and Pushes events
  • Ensure Active is enabled; it is by default
  • Finish by clicking Add webhook. You may be prompted to enter your GitHub password to confirm your action.

You can verify if the webhook is working at the bottom of the GitHub page under Recent Deliveries. If you see a Response 200, then the webhook is correctly configured. For a 403 error, it's likely that the Payload URL is incorrect.

GitHub will emit an initial HTTP request (X-GitHub-Event: ping) upon creating the webhook and you may notice that the Read the Docs responds with {"detail":"Unhandled webhook event"} – this is normal and expected. Push changes to your repository and webhooks will work from this point.

注釈

The webhook token, intended for the GitHub Secret field, is not yet implemented.

Bitbucket

  • Go to the Settings > Webhooks > Add webhook page for your project
  • For URL, use the URL of the integration on Read the Docs, found on the Admin > Integrations page
  • Under Triggers, Repository push should be selected
  • Finish by clicking Save

GitLab

  • Go to the Settings > Integrations page for your project
  • For URL, use the URL of the integration on Read the Docs, found on the Admin > Integrations page
  • Leave the default Push events selected and mark Tag push events also
  • Finish by clicking Add Webhook

Using the generic API integration

For repositories that are not hosted with a supported provider, we also offer a generic API endpoint for triggering project builds. Similar to webhook integrations, this integration has a specific URL, which can be found on the project's Integrations dashboard page (Admin > Integrations).

Token authentication is required to use the generic endpoint, you will find this token on the integration details page. The token should be passed in as a request parameter, either as form data or as part of JSON data input.

Parameters

This endpoint accepts the following arguments during an HTTP POST:

branches

The names of the branches to trigger builds for. This can either be an array of branch name strings, or just a single branch name string.

Default: latest

token
The integration token found on the project's Integrations dashboard page (Admin > Integrations).

For example, the cURL command to build the dev branch, using the token 1234, would be:

curl -X POST -d "branches=dev" -d "token=1234" https://readthedocs.org/api/v2/webhook/example-project/1/

A command like the one above could be called from a cron job or from a hook inside Git, Subversion, Mercurial, or Bazaar.

Authentication

This endpoint requires authentication. If authenticating with an integration token, a check will determine if the token is valid and matches the given project. If instead an authenticated user is used to make this request, a check will be performed to ensure the authenticated user is an owner of the project.

Debugging webhooks

If you are experiencing problems with an existing webhook, you may be able to use the integration detail page to help debug the issue. Each project integration, such as a webhook or the generic API endpoint, stores the HTTP exchange that takes place between Read the Docs and the external source. You'll find a list of these exchanges in any of the integration detail pages.

Resyncing webhooks

It might be necessary to re-establish a webhook if you are noticing problems. To resync a webhook from Read the Docs, visit the integration detail page and follow the directions for re-syncing your repository webhook.

Payload validation

If your project was imported through a connected account, we create a secret for every integration that offers a way to verify that a webhook request is legitimate. Currently, GitHub and GitLab offer a way to check this.

Troubleshooting

My project isn't automatically building

If your project isn't automatically building, you can check your integration on Read the Docs to see the payload sent to our servers. If there is no recent activity on your Read the Docs project webhook integration, then it's likely that your VCS provider is not configured correctly. If there is payload information on your Read the Docs project, you might need to verify that your versions are configured to build correctly.

Either way, it may help to either resync your webhook integration (see Resyncing webhooks for information on this process), or set up an entirely new webhook integration.

I was warned I shouldn't use GitHub Services

Last year, GitHub announced that effective Jan 31st, 2019, GitHub Services will stop working [1]. This means GitHub will stop sending notifications to Read the Docs for projects configured with the ReadTheDocs GitHub Service. If your project has been configured on Read the Docs for a long time, you are most likely still using this service to automatically build your project on Read the Docs.

In order for your project to continue automatically building, you will need to configure your GitHub repository with a new webhook. You can use either a connected GitHub account and a GitHub webhook integration on your Read the Docs project, or you can use a generic webhook integration without a connected account.

[1]https://developer.github.com/changes/2018-04-25-github-services-deprecation/

I was warned that my project won't automatically build after April 1st

In addition to no longer supporting GitHub Services, we have decided to no longer support several other legacy incoming webhook endpoints that were used before we introduced project webhook integrations. When we introduced our webhook integrations, we added several features and improved security for incoming webhooks and these features were not added to our leagcy incoming webhooks. New projects have not been able to use our legacy incoming webhooks since, however if you have a project that has been established for a while, you may still be using these endpoints.

After March 1st, 2019, we will stop accepting incoming webhook notifications for these legacy incoming webhooks. Your project will need to be reconfigured and have a webhook integration configured, pointing to a new webhook with your VCS provider.

In particular, the incoming webhook URLs that will be removed are:

  • https://readthedocs.org/build
  • https://readthedocs.org/bitbucket
  • https://readthedocs.org/github (as noted above)
  • https://readthedocs.org/gitlab

In order to establish a new project webhook integration, follow the directions for your VCS provider