GitHub doesn't retry webhooks. So I gave my tunnel a database.
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Solving GitHub webhook reliability with a tunnel and database is a practical, actionable infrastructure pattern.
Summary
GitHub does not retry failed webhook deliveries, a gap shared by Stripe (3 attempts) and Shopify (8 attempts then unsubscribes). A developer built Doorbell, a tunnel with a Postgres database that holds webhooks when no local listener is connected, returning 202 Accepted instead of 502. The approach breaks signature verification because signing headers are stripped before storage, limiting production use.