Deep Research jobs frequently run for several minutes and emit results asynchronously. Webhooks are the only scalable way to receive completion signals, stream updates, and collect structured findings without polling the OpenAI API. This playbook walks through project configuration, payload handling, signature verification, and the Hooklistener tooling that keeps your automations observable.

Why Deep Research Demands Webhooks

Deep Research workloads usually exceed synchronous HTTP timeouts and rely on background processing. Webhooks enable latency-tolerant delivery of completion events, partial findings, and failure notices. They also unlock real-time notifications for collaborative teams, auto-ingestion into knowledge bases, and automated reporting pipelines.

Receive `research.completed` events with structured citations and summarized insights
Capture `research.failed` payloads quickly to alert your team
Trigger downstream workflows without polling dashboards
Archive research artifacts for compliance or audit trails

Configuring OpenAI Webhooks for Deep Research

1. Prepare Project Settings

Create a dedicated OpenAI project for Deep Research workloads
Navigate to Settings → Webhooks and choose Create endpoint
Set the target URL (use an HTTPS Hooklistener forwarding URL while developing)
Select the `research.completed`, `research.failed`, and `research.delta` events
Copy the signing secret and store it securely in your environment variables

2. Mirror Payloads Locally with Hooklistener

Capturing live OpenAI payloads during development eliminates guesswork. Hooklistener provides HTTPS endpoints, replay tools, and signature verification helpers so your team can iterate quickly.

Run Hooklistener and copy the auto-generated forwarding URL
Attach the forwarding URL inside the OpenAI dashboard
Trigger a Deep Research job; Hooklistener records the webhook event instantly
Replay the captured event against `localhost` to test your API handlers repeatedly

Validating Signatures and Parsing Payloads

Every webhook request ships with OpenAI signature headers that confirm authenticity. Verification helps prevent spoofed payloads, replays, or tampering. After validation, shape the payload into a consumable format for your downstream systems.

// Node.js example using OpenAI SDK & Hooklistener capture

import { OpenAI } from "openai"; import type { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from "next"; const client = new OpenAI(); const webhookSecret = process.env.OPENAI_WEBHOOK_SECRET!; export default async function handler(req: NextApiRequest, res: NextApiResponse) { if (req.method !== "POST") { return res.status(405).json({ error: "Method not allowed" }); } try { const event = await client.webhooks.unwrap({ payload: req.body, headers: req.headers, secret: webhookSecret, }); if (event.type === "research.completed") { await persistResearch(event.data); } if (event.type === "research.failed") { await notifyPagerDuty(event.data.error); } return res.status(200).json({ received: true }); } catch (error) { console.error("OpenAI webhook verification failed", error); return res.status(400).json({ error: "invalid signature" }); } }

Hooklistener stores the exact headers needed for verification so you can reproduce edge cases offline. Export the payload as JSON, run unit tests, and guard against regressions without waiting for new jobs to finish.

Automating Deep Research Workflows After Delivery

Enrich and Index Insights

Append citations to a vector store, index structured answers into your CRM, or broadcast summaries to Slack channels. The webhook payload includes citations, references, and the final report body—perfect for automated distribution.

Create Audit Trails

Persist payload metadata (job IDs, timestamps, research parameters) to link requests with responses. This is critical when executive teams rely on generated reports and when you need to reconcile billing.

Alert on Failures Instantly

Combine Hooklistener's retry visualization with notifications to PagerDuty, Opsgenie, or Slack. Failed jobs surface quickly so you can rerun requests or adjust prompts without waiting on customers to report issues.

Ship Confidently with Hooklistener

Hooklistener gives your team a dedicated control plane for OpenAI webhooks:

✓Record and replay Deep Research payloads locally

✓Share captured events with team members securely

✓Monitor retries, failures, and time-to-delivery metrics

Start Capturing Deep Research Webhooks →

OpenAI Deep Research Webhooks: Production Implementation Playbook