Every time someone asks me "should I use the API or a webhook for this?", the answer is almost always "both, but for different jobs." This post is the long-form version of that answer, with code you can copy and the gotchas that bit me in production so you can skip them.

The one-line version

API is what you call. Webhook is what calls you .

That's it. APIs are pull — you ask, the server answers. Webhooks are push — the server tells you when something happened. Most real integrations use both, because you need on-demand reads (API) and real-time event reactions (webhook).

sequenceDiagram participant You as Your code participant API as Provider API

Note over You,API: API (pull model) You->>API: GET /orders?updated_after=... API-->>You: 200 OK + JSON You->>API: GET /orders?updated_after=...…