mailgun-webhooks

Mailgun Webhooks

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up Mailgun webhook handlers
• Verifying Mailgun webhook signatures (HMAC-SHA256 over timestamp + token)
• Debugging Mailgun signature verification failures
• Handling email delivery events: delivered, failed, opened, clicked
• Handling list events: unsubscribed, complained
• Distinguishing permanent vs temporary failures via the severity field
• Verifying subaccount webhooks via the optional parent-signature field

How Mailgun Webhooks Differ

Unlike most providers, Mailgun puts the signature inside the request body, not in a header. The webhook payload always has this shape:

{
  "signature": {
    "timestamp": "1529006854",
    "token": "a8ce0edb2dd8301dee6c2405235584e45aa91d1e9f979f3de0",
    "signature": "d2271d12299f6592d9d44cd9d250f0704e4674c30d79d07c47a66f95ce71cf55"
  },
  "event-data": { "event": "delivered", "...": "..." }
}

Verify by computing HMAC-SHA256(signing_key, timestamp + token) and comparing the hex digest to signature.signature using timing-safe equality.

Essential Code (USE THIS)

Node.js — Verify Signature

const crypto = require('crypto');

function verifyMailgun(signature, signingKey) {
  // signature is the `signature` object from the request body
  const { timestamp, token, signature: providedSig } = signature;

  if (!timestamp || !token || !providedSig) return false;

  const expected = crypto
    .createHmac('sha256', signingKey)
    .update(timestamp + token)  // concatenate, no separator
    .digest('hex');

  // Timing-safe comparison
  try {
    return crypto.timingSafeEqual(
      Buffer.from(expected, 'hex'),
      Buffer.from(providedSig, 'hex')
    );
  } catch {
    return false;  // length mismatch
  }
}

Express Webhook Handler

const express = require('express');
const crypto = require('crypto');

const app = express();

app.post('/webhooks/mailgun', express.json(), (req, res) => {
  const { signature, 'event-data': eventData } = req.body;

  if (!signature || !verifyMailgun(signature, process.env.MAILGUN_WEBHOOK_SIGNING_KEY)) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Invalid signature' });
  }

  switch (eventData.event) {
    case 'delivered':
      console.log('Delivered:', eventData.recipient);
      break;
    case 'failed':
      // severity: 'permanent' (hard bounce) or 'temporary' (soft bounce)
      console.log(`Failed (${eventData.severity}):`, eventData.recipient);
      break;
    case 'opened':
      console.log('Opened:', eventData.recipient);
      break;
    case 'clicked':
      console.log('Clicked:', eventData.url);
      break;
    case 'unsubscribed':
    case 'complained':
      console.log(`${eventData.event}:`, eventData.recipient);
      break;
  }

  res.json({ received: true });
});