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A one-time event sent when you first create a webhook to verify that Smartcar can successfully deliver payloads to your callback URL.
Required Before Data DeliveryYour endpoint must successfully respond to the VERIFY event before Smartcar will deliver any VEHICLE_STATE or VEHICLE_ERROR events. This confirms your endpoint is configured correctly and ready to receive webhooks.

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When This Event Fires

The VERIFY event fires once when you:
  • Create a new webhook in the Smartcar Dashboard
  • Update the callback URL of an existing webhook
  • Click “Verify this webhook” in the Dashboard

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Payload Structure

{
  "eventId": "52f6e0bb-1369-45da-a61c-9e67d092d6db",
  "eventType": "VERIFY",
  "data": {
    "challenge": "3a5c8f72-e6d9-4b1a-9f2e-8c7d6a5b4e3f"
  },
  "meta": {
    "version": "4.0",
    "webhookId": "5a8e5e38-1e12-4011-a36d-56f120053f9e",
    "webhookName": "Example Webhook",
    "deliveryId": "5d569643-3a47-4cd1-a3ec-db5fc1f6f03b",
    "deliveredAt": 1761896351529
  }
}

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Payload Fields

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eventId
string
required
Unique identifier for this verification event.
​
eventType
string
required
Always "VERIFY" for this event type.
​
data
object
required
Container for the challenge.
​
meta
object
required
Webhook delivery metadata. See Event Reference Overview for the complete meta object schema.

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Required Response

Your endpoint must respond with:
  1. Status code: 200 OK
  2. Content-Type header: application/json
  3. Response body: JSON object with the HMAC-SHA256 hash
Response Body
{
  "challenge": "a3f5c8e9d2b4a1f6e8c7d9a5b3e1f2c4d6a8b9c1e3f5a7b9c2d4e6f8a1b3c5d7"
}

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Generate the HMAC

Create an HMAC-SHA256 hash of the challenge string using your Application Management Token as the secret key, then hex-encode the result:
Our backend SDKs have helper methods to generate the HMAC automatically.
import smartcar

hmac = smartcar.hash_challenge(
    application_management_token, 
    challenge
)

# Return in response body
return {"challenge": hmac}, 200

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Complete Handler Example

Here’s a complete webhook handler that responds to the VERIFY event: 
const express = require('express');
const smartcar = require('smartcar');

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

app.post('/webhooks/smartcar', (req, res) => {
  const { eventType, data } = req.body;
  
  if (eventType === 'VERIFY') {
    // Generate HMAC challenge response
    const hmac = smartcar.hashChallenge(
      process.env.SMARTCAR_MANAGEMENT_TOKEN,
      data.challenge
    );
    
    return res.status(200).json({ challenge: hmac });
  }
  
  // Handle other event types...
  res.status(200).json({ status: 'received' });
});

​
Troubleshooting

Common causes:
  • Wrong Application Management Token used
  • HMAC not hex-encoded
  • Response body doesn’t match { "challenge": "..." } format
  • Endpoint returns non-200 status code
  • Response takes longer than 15 seconds
Solution: Use the Dashboard’s verification modal to see the expected challenge and response. Compare your implementation against the provided code snippets.
Use ngrok or similar to expose your local server:
ngrok http 3000
Then use the ngrok URL as your callback URI in the Dashboard. The Dashboard will send a real VERIFY event to your local endpoint.
Yes! You can click “Verify this webhook” in the Dashboard at any time to send a new VERIFY event to your endpoint.
Yes, your production webhook endpoint should always handle the VERIFY event type, even after initial verification. This allows you to re-verify from the Dashboard if needed.
Timeout RequirementYour endpoint must respond to the VERIFY event within 15 seconds. If verification times out, Smartcar will not activate the webhook.

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Next Steps

After successfully responding to the VERIFY event, your webhook is activated and will begin receiving vehicle data.

VEHICLE_STATE Event

Learn about signal data deliveries

VEHICLE_ERROR Event

Handle error notifications

Callback Verification Guide

Complete step-by-step implementation

Receiving Webhooks

Build a complete webhook handler