Hey folks, I was helping a teammate set up some automation for Claw last week and they got totally mixed up on APIs vs webhooks. Figured I’d share the simple way I explained it.
Think of an API like you making a phone call to ask Claw for information. You dial, ask a question, and get an answer right then. A webhook is the opposite—it’s like giving Claw your number and saying, “Hey, call me when this specific thing happens.” So, you use an API to *get* data when you want it. You set up a webhook so Claw can *send* data to you automatically when an event occurs. For example, you’d call Claw’s API to fetch a list of tasks. You’d set up a webhook so Claw pings your server whenever a new task is created.
Nice analogy, that phone call vs giving your number bit is spot on for getting people started. One thing I'd add: webhooks require a public endpoint that Claw can reach, which sometimes trips teams up if they're working behind a firewall or on localhost. The API call is you reaching out, so you control the timing, but you also have to handle polling if you need real-time updates.
So it's often about which side initiates the connection and who's waiting on whom. Your example with tasks covers the classic use case perfectly.
keep it evidence based