Overview
cardano.delivery is a free webhook service that sends an automatic message to your app or server when something you care about happens on Cardano. A webhook works like a doorbell. The service rings your software the moment a matching transaction, new block (a batch of transactions added to the chain) or stake delegation is confirmed, so the software never has to keep checking the blockchain itself1. App builders get these alerts without running a node, the software that keeps its own copy of the blockchain1.
The service watches the Cardano main network only2, and the site credits Five Binaries as its maker1. Five Binaries also runs Blockfrost, a hosted Cardano data service3. cardano.delivery is one of the API providers, services that let other software request blockchain data, and the Cardano Developer Portal lists it under APIs & Providers, with tags for webhooks and AI agents4.
Key Features
- Alerts for twelve kinds of on-chain events. Webhooks can watch transactions, new blocks, stake delegations, epochs (the network's regular reward periods), governance proposals and votes, new and departing DReps (elected voting representatives), stake pool changes, reward withdrawals, token mints and burns, smart contract runs (programs that execute on the blockchain) and staking accounts1,2.
- Only the events you ask for. Filters narrow each webhook to specific addresses, amounts, token policies, stake pools or any field in the message, and every condition must match before anything is sent2.
- Proof that a message is genuine. Every delivery carries a signature made with a secret key from your dashboard, so your server can reject fake messages that did not come from cardano.delivery2.
- Protection against reversed blocks. For block-based events, you choose to wait for one to ten confirmations (later blocks built on top), and an event undone before that point is never delivered2.
- Temporary webhooks for AI agents. An AI agent can create a short-lived webhook without an account, lasting one hour by default and up to 24 hours, through a single web request or an MCP server, a standard way for AI assistants to use outside tools5.
What to Expect
Developers start by creating a free account, clicking New webhook, picking an event type and entering the web address where messages should go2. Each account can hold five webhooks with up to ten conditions each2. Developers who prefer code over clicks can create up to five API keys, passwords that let their own programs manage webhooks without the dashboard6.
The dashboard shows recent deliveries for every webhook, including the response code from the receiving server and any errors, which helps when alerts stop arriving1. Failed deliveries are retried a few times, and a webhook whose receiving web address keeps failing is switched off automatically2.
Agents and scripts without a public web address can use inbox mode instead: the service stores matching events, and the agent collects them when it is ready5. Anyone can create these temporary webhooks without signing up, up to five per hour from one internet address6.
For a worked example, the documentation includes a step-by-step guide that relays Cardano governance votes on recent open proposals by DReps, stake pool operators and the Constitutional Committee, the elected members who check that governance actions follow Cardano's constitution, to a Telegram chat. Because cardano.delivery cannot post to Telegram directly, the guide adds a small relay program that checks each message's signature and forwards it7. Other documented uses include alerting delegators when their stake pool retires and watching every mint and burn in an NFT collection2.
