Source: https://guides.edgible.com/guides/n8n-on-edgible/05-n8n-public-webhook.md
Last updated: 2026-08-30

# 5. A webhook a stranger can hit

**An unauthenticated caller reaches your box, without touching the router.**

## 5.0 Why

Chapter 3 published the `None` hostname and chapter 4 proved n8n runs. This chapter combines them. Until now every success has been you, logged in as yourself. A webhook caller is different: Stripe, GitHub, a phone on cellular. If that call cannot land, the integrations people want n8n for will not work.

Make the call from outside. Loading the URL from the VM, or from a laptop on the same Wi‑Fi, tests almost nothing. The hostname matters too: the same path on the `org` editor hostname stops at the Edgible login, which is correct behaviour and not the test. Only the `n8n-hooks` hostname on `None` answers unauthenticated callers. That is the shape of the demo: HTTPS in from anywhere, with no forwarded port and no VPN enrolment for the caller.

The `None` auth mode accepts anyone who learns the path. Keep the path unguessable, return nothing sensitive, and unpublish when you are finished.

```
a stranger, cellular   ──► https://n8n-hooks.<org>.edgible.com/webhook/…   ← None
                                          │
Ubuntu guest                Edgible serving agent ──► 127.0.0.1:5678
                                          │
                            n8n  (Webhook node → JSON reply)

you, logged in         ──► https://n8n.<org>.edgible.com   ← org  (canvas only)
```

**Where you run this:** build the workflow in the **n8n editor** on the `org` hostname; make the call from a **phone on cellular** or an off-LAN laptop shell.

## 5.1 The job

You add a **Webhook** node whose production URL is on `n8n-hooks` (`None`), not the `org` editor host. You hit it from cellular or any machine that is not the VM. n8n responds with JSON. That is what GitHub/Stripe would do next; you do not need them for the smoke test.

**Done when**

- The Webhook node shows a production URL on `https://n8n-hooks.<org>.edgible.com/webhook/…` with no `:5678` and no `localhost`.
- The workflow is **Active**.
- A GET in the phone browser (cellular) or `curl` off the LAN returns JSON such as `{"ok":true}`.
- **Executions** recorded the call.
- The n8n app is still `org`, and `n8n-hooks` is still `None`. Hitting the editor host with `/webhook/…` is not the test.
- Hello World still loads. Port `5678` not forwarded.
- You deactivated the smoke webhook (or accept that the path is public).

**Need first:** [3. Public webhook hostname](03-n8n-public-webhook-hostname.md) (`WEBHOOK_URL` set, hooks cert issued) and the canvas from [2](02-n8n-editor-through-edgible.md).

**Not this chapter:** OpenClaw, Telegram bots, or leaving a privileged workflow on a public path.

## 5.2 Build it

In the `org` editor (`n8n.<org>…`), not the hooks hostname:

1. **Add workflow** (new, not the cron).
2. Add **Webhook**.
3. **HTTP Method:** **GET** (phone browser).
4. **Path:** something unguessable, e.g. `edgible-smoke-<random>` (or keep n8n’s random path).
5. **Respond** is a dropdown on the Webhook node’s **Parameters** tab. Set it to **Using 'Respond to Webhook' Node**. **Immediately** only returns *Workflow got started*.
6. Click the **+** on the right of the Webhook (or the canvas **+**). In the search box type `respond`. Pick **Respond to Webhook**.  
   Do not look for Edit Fields / Set inside the Webhook panel. Those are other nodes. If you want them anyway, search `edit fields` or `set` (official name: **Edit Fields (Set)**), under **Core** / transform, not Apps.
7. On **Respond to Webhook**: **Respond With** → **JSON**. Body:

```json
{ "ok": true, "via": "edgible" }
```

8. **Save**. At the top of the **Webhook** node, switch to **Production URL** (not Test). Copy that URL. It must start with `https://n8n-hooks.` from [chapter 3](03-n8n-public-webhook-hostname.md).
9. **Publish** / toggle **Active** (production webhooks only exist when the workflow is active).

If the URL still shows `localhost:5678` or `:5678`, `WEBHOOK_URL` is wrong. Go back to [3.3](03-n8n-public-webhook-hostname.md#33-point-n8n-at-the-two-origins) and recreate the container.

## 5.3 Hit it from outside the VM

**Smoke test.** Phone on cellular: paste the production URL in the browser. You want the JSON (or a download of it). Wi‑Fi on the same LAN as the VM is not this test.

Or from a laptop on cellular / another network:

```bash
curl -sS "https://n8n-hooks.YOUR-ORG.edgible.com/webhook/edgible-smoke-YOURPATH"
```

Use the exact production URL from the node. HTTP `200` and `ok` is success.

n8n **Executions** should show the request.

Deactivate the workflow when you are finished. A public GET that returns only `ok` is still a public endpoint; do not attach “delete all my disks” to a `None` hostname.

### Verify

- [ ] The Webhook node shows a production URL on `https://n8n-hooks.<org>.edgible.com/webhook/…` with no `:5678` and no `localhost`.
- [ ] The workflow is **Active**.
- [ ] A GET in the phone browser (cellular) or `curl` off the LAN returns JSON such as `{"ok":true}`.
- [ ] **Executions** recorded the call.
- [ ] The n8n app is still `org`, and `n8n-hooks` is still `None`. Hitting the editor host with `/webhook/…` is not the test.
- [ ] Hello World still loads. Port `5678` not forwarded.
- [ ] You deactivated the smoke webhook (or accept that the path is public).

---

## Next

That’s this series for the demo. Teardown: [6. Tear down n8n](06-n8n-teardown.md). [Index](README.md). Edgible VM setup lives in [Start here](../start-here/README.md), on the same box. An agent instead: [OpenClaw on Edgible](../openclaw-on-edgible/README.md); do not wire n8n to OpenClaw for this demo. A published model: [LLM on Edgible](../llm-on-edgible/README.md).