Fix Stripe Webhook Timeouts on Vercel and Edge Functions#

Scope: This guide focuses specifically on Stripe webhook timeout issues in serverless environments. For a comprehensive overview, see the Complete Guide to Stripe Webhooks in Next.js.

Stripe webhook handlers usually work fine during initial development. You set up the API route, verify signatures, process events, and everything appears stable in testing. Then production starts throwing intermittent timeouts that show up in Stripe’s dashboard but leave minimal traces in your application logs.

These timeouts become maintenance overhead. You end up checking Stripe’s webhook delivery logs, correlating timestamps with your application monitoring, and manually replaying events when important transactions get stuck. The handler logic itself rarely changes, but you keep touching this code to debug delivery reliability.

When this keeps happening, it’s usually less about handler logic and more about missing persistence and visibility between Stripe and your app.

Why Stripe webhook timeouts happen in Next.js#

Stripe expects webhook endpoints to respond within 20 seconds. In Next.js serverless deployments, several factors make this constraint trickier than it appears:

• Cold start delays add unpredictable latency before your handler code runs
• Database connection setup can consume several seconds of the timeout window
• Third-party API calls within the handler may cascade delays
• Memory or CPU throttling in serverless environments can slow processing
• Deployment edge cases where new code isn’t fully ready but routing has updated

These aren’t Next.js bugs or configuration mistakes. They’re normal characteristics of serverless execution that become visible when external systems have strict timeout requirements.

If this is a low-volume app where occasional missed webhook deliveries are acceptable, these complexities may not matter yet.

Next.js serverless execution compounds the issue#

The Next.js API route model abstracts away infrastructure concerns, which works well for most HTTP requests. With webhooks, this abstraction can obscure what’s happening during delivery attempts:

• Request lifecycle constraints mean timeouts terminate the entire execution context
• Limited local state makes it hard to track retry attempts or partial processing
• Deployment boundaries between edge/serverless runtimes behave differently than development
• Framework abstraction hides the underlying compute environment’s resource constraints

When Stripe retries a failed webhook, your handler has no memory of previous attempts. Each retry looks like a fresh event, making it difficult to distinguish between new events and redeliveries without implementing your own idempotency handling.

How HookRelay reduces timeout friction#

HookRelay sits between Stripe and your Next.js application, handling delivery reliability as an infrastructure concern rather than application logic. Instead of Stripe retrying your API route directly and bumping against serverless constraints, HookRelay receives the webhook, persists it, and forwards it to your app with its own retry behavior.

This separation means timeout issues become visible and debuggable outside your application runtime. When your handler times out, the event remains available for inspection and replay without rebuilding retry logic inside your Next.js app.

The delivery tracking system captures timing information and failure details that aren’t available when webhooks hit your API routes directly.

What this looks like in a Next.js app#

• Point Stripe webhooks at a HookRelay endpoint instead of your API route
• HookRelay persists the webhook payload and forwards it to your application
• Timeout failures are recorded with timestamps and attempt counts
• Your handler processes events normally but doesn’t need to handle delivery reliability
• Failed deliveries remain inspectable and replayable through the HookRelay interface

Stripe-specific timeout behavior#

Stripe’s webhook retry logic follows an exponential backoff pattern, attempting redelivery for up to 3 days. During this period:

• Signature verification remains consistent across retry attempts
• Idempotency becomes important since the same event may be delivered multiple times
• Event ordering can get disrupted if some webhooks succeed while others timeout

HookRelay preserves Stripe’s signature verification while adding event replay capabilities that work independently of Stripe’s retry schedule.

When this approach makes sense#

This pattern is useful once webhook reliability matters operationally - when missed events cause customer support issues or require manual intervention. For early-stage applications or prototypes where occasional webhook failures are manageable, the additional infrastructure may be unnecessary.

The trade-off is adding a service dependency in exchange for removing webhook reliability concerns from your application code.

HookRelay handles the persistence and retry complexity so your Next.js handlers can focus on business logic rather than delivery mechanics. See how delivery failures are tracked for what this looks like in practice.