AWS SNS Notification webhook payload example

AWS SNS · event: Notification · content type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

This is a representative sample — fake IDs, real structure. To see a payload with your data, point the provider at a capture URL (button below).

See it live, not frozen

One click creates a free capture bin with this exact payload already in it — pretty-printed, headers inspectable, replayable to your own endpoint:

Then paste the bin's URL into AWS SNS's webhook settings to capture a real delivery. No signup.

Headers

content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
user-agent: Amazon Simple Notification Service Agent
x-amz-sns-message-type: Notification
x-amz-sns-message-id: da41e39f-ea4d-435a-b922-c6aae3915ebe
x-amz-sns-topic-arn: arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders
x-amz-sns-subscription-arn: arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders:2bcfbf39-05c3-41de-beaa-fcfcc21c8f55

Body

{
  "Type": "Notification",
  "MessageId": "da41e39f-ea4d-435a-b922-c6aae3915ebe",
  "TopicArn": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders",
  "Subject": "order.created",
  "Message": "{\"order_id\":\"ord_8412\",\"total_cents\":2058,\"currency\":\"USD\"}",
  "Timestamp": "2026-08-29T07:30:00.000Z",
  "SignatureVersion": "1",
  "Signature": "EXAMPLEpH+DcEwjAPg8O9mY8dReBSwksfg2S7WKQcikcNKWLQjwu6A4VbeS0QHVCkhRS7fUQvi2egU3N858fiTDN6bkkOxYDVrY0Ad8L10Hs3zH81mtnPk5uvvolIC1CXGu43obcgFxeL3khZl8IKvO61GWB6jI9b5+gLPoBc1Q=",
  "SigningCertURL": "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-9c6465fa7f48f5cacd23014631ec1136.pem",
  "UnsubscribeURL": "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders:2bcfbf39-05c3-41de-beaa-fcfcc21c8f55"
}

Things that bite people

The body is JSON but the Content-Type is text/plain — JSON body-parsers that gate on the header silently drop it (your handler sees an empty body and returns 200). This is the #1 SNS integration bug.
Message is a string containing JSON — you parse the envelope, then parse Message again. (If you enable "raw message delivery" you get only the inner payload, and none of these envelope fields.)
Before any Notification arrives, SNS sends a SubscriptionConfirmation with a SubscribeURL you must fetch — a capture bin is the zero-code way to grab it: SNS stuck in PendingConfirmation.
SignatureVersion: "1" means SHA1 — switch the topic to version 2 for SHA256. Verify by fetching SigningCertURL (check it's a real sns.*.amazonaws.com URL) — this is X.509, not an HMAC you can test with a generic tool.
Default HTTPS retry policy is only 3 retries, and only on 5xx/429 — a 404 or 400 burns the delivery immediately.

Send it yourself

Reproduce this delivery against any endpoint (your handler, a bin, staging):

$ curl -X POST https://your-endpoint.example/hook \
  -H 'content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8' \
  -H 'user-agent: Amazon Simple Notification Service Agent' \
  -H 'x-amz-sns-message-type: Notification' \
  -H 'x-amz-sns-message-id: da41e39f-ea4d-435a-b922-c6aae3915ebe' \
  -H 'x-amz-sns-topic-arn: arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders' \
  -H 'x-amz-sns-subscription-arn: arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders:2bcfbf39-05c3-41de-beaa-fcfcc21c8f55' \
 -d '{
  "Type": "Notification",
  "MessageId": "da41e39f-ea4d-435a-b922-c6aae3915ebe",
  "TopicArn": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders",
  "Subject": "order.created",
  "Message": "{\"order_id\":\"ord_8412\",\"total_cents\":2058,\"currency\":\"USD\"}",
  "Timestamp": "2026-08-29T07:30:00.000Z",
  "SignatureVersion": "1",
  "Signature": "EXAMPLEpH+DcEwjAPg8O9mY8dReBSwksfg2S7WKQcikcNKWLQjwu6A4VbeS0QHVCkhRS7fUQvi2egU3N858fiTDN6bkkOxYDVrY0Ad8L10Hs3zH81mtnPk5uvvolIC1CXGu43obcgFxeL3khZl8IKvO61GWB6jI9b5+gLPoBc1Q=",
  "SigningCertURL": "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/SimpleNotificationService-9c6465fa7f48f5cacd23014631ec1136.pem",
  "UnsubscribeURL": "https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/?Action=Unsubscribe&SubscriptionArn=arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:orders:2bcfbf39-05c3-41de-beaa-fcfcc21c8f55"
}'

← All payload examples · Related guide · Signature debugger · Docs