Kapture — PHP Webhook Receiver & Inspector

Catch, log, and inspect every HTTP request — self-hosted, zero dependencies, and yours forever.

Why?

Testing webhook integrations is painful. You guess what your service sent, hit F5 a hundred times, and pray the request format is right. Kapture gives you a dead-simple endpoint that logs everything — method, headers, body, query params, IP — and lets you inspect it in a clean UI.

But here's the thing about tools like webhook.site and RequestBin: every webhook you send to them leaves your machine. Your payloads live on someone else's server, they expire in hours, and if you need to check what Stripe sent you last week — it's gone.

Kapture is self-hosted, open-source, and persists your logs as long as you need them. One command and your data stays yours forever. No rate limits, no signup, no "try again tomorrow." Zero dependencies — drop it on any server (even shared hosting) and it just works.

Quick Start

php -S 0.0.0.0:8080 -t public

Send a webhook:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"event":"user.created","email":"user@example.com"}' \
  http://localhost:8080/kapture/anything-you-like

Open the admin:

open http://localhost:8080/admin

Password: changeme

To switch to SQLite storage, set STORAGE_DRIVER=sqlite in .env (requires ext-sqlite3).

Features

You own your data

• Self-hosted — your webhooks never leave your machine. No third party sees your payloads.
• Persistent logs — stays across restarts. Check what Shopify sent you last week? Open the archive.
• Configurable retention — keep logs for 7 days or 7 months. Prune when you're ready.

Drop-dead simple

• Zero dependencies — just PHP 8.3+. No Composer install, no database setup, no Docker required.
• One command to run — php -S 0.0.0.0:8080 -t public and you're capturing.
• Works everywhere — laptop, shared hosting, DigitalOcean box, Raspberry Pi.

Inspect everything

• Full capture — headers, body, query params, IP, timestamp, any HTTP method
• Dark theme admin UI — expandable details, text filter, group-by-URI-path, live auto-refresh
• Archive browser — pick any daily log from the sidebar. Browse tomorrow what came in today.
• Raw dump — ?raw for JSONL access. Pipe into jq, grep, or your own tooling.

Flexible storage

• JSONL files — one JSON object per line, standard format, readable by any tool
• SQLite option — set STORAGE_DRIVER=sqlite for a single database file
• Daily rotation — automatic, with configurable pruning

What makes Kapture different

• Self-hosted — no third-party server sees your payloads
• Persistent logs — stays across restarts, browsable by day, configurable retention
• Zero dependencies — just PHP. No Composer, no Docker, no database setup
• No rate limits, no signup — run it, use it, done
• Runs anywhere — laptop, shared hosting, VPS, Raspberry Pi

Usage

Webhook endpoint

POST /kapture/your-custom-path
GET  /kapture/anything?foo=bar
PUT  /kapture/test
...

Returns {"ok":true,"uid":"<unique-id>"}. Keep the capture ID to find it in the logs.

Admin panel

URL	What
/admin	UI — browse, filter, expand requests
/admin?raw	Raw JSONL dump of today's file
/admin?file=2026-05-23	Browse a specific day's log
/admin?file=2026-05-23&raw	Raw dump of a specific day

Configuration

Copy .env.example → .env and edit — the app won't start without it:

ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme    # Admin login password
LOG_DIR=./logs             # Where logs / database are stored
ROTATE_DAYS=7              # Days to keep logs (filesystem only)
STORAGE_DRIVER=filesystem  # 'filesystem' (default) or 'sqlite'

Log Format

Each request is logged as a single JSON line (JSONL):

{
  "capturedAt": "2026-05-23T14:30:00Z",
  "method": "POST",
  "uri": "/kapture/orders",
  "query": {"source": "shopify"},
  "headers": {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "User-Agent": "Shopify-Captain-Hook/1.0"
  },
  "body": "{\"event\":\"order.created\"}",
  "ip": "203.0.113.42",
  "captureId": "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8"
}

Requirements

• PHP 8.3+

Development

php -S 0.0.0.0:8080 -t public

The built-in server handles routing. No Apache or Nginx needed.

Testing

composer test

Code quality

composer check    # phpstan + ecs + tests
composer ecs:fix  # auto-fix code style

• PHPStan — static analysis at level 8
• ECS — PSR-12 code style with Symfony rules
• PHPUnit

FAQ

Does it work with Stripe / Shopify / GitHub webhooks? Yes. Kapture accepts any HTTP method and captures the full request — headers, body, query params, and IP. Drop the endpoint URL into any webhook provider's dashboard.

Can I run it in production? Kapture is designed for local development and testing. For production use, add HTTPS and a stronger password.

Does it persist logs between restarts? Yes. Logs are written to logs/ as JSONL files (or a single kapture.db SQLite file when using STORAGE_DRIVER=sqlite). The admin UI lets you browse any daily archive from the sidebar.

How is this different from webhook.site? webhook.site is convenient for one-off testing, but your webhooks go through their servers, expire quickly, and you can't browse yesterday's data. Kapture is self-hosted, open-source, and keeps your logs as long as you configure it to. Your data never leaves your machine. It's not a temporary buffer — it's your webhook archive.

What if I need to check a webhook from last week? Open /admin?file=2026-05-20 and scroll. Kapture persists logs across restarts, organized by day, browsable from the sidebar. Set ROTATE_DAYS=90 and you have a 3-month audit trail.

Roadmap

• Docker image for one-command deploy
• Webhook forwarding / replay
• Configurable log retention per route
• CLI tail command for live log streaming

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how to help:

• Report a bug
• Submit a pull request
• Star the repo to show support ⭐

License

MIT