Why do I get a 401 Unauthorized error when creating a webhook?

Last updated: August 24, 2026

Creating a webhook, whether through POST https://dashboard.alchemy.com/api/create-webhook or the Webhooks tab in the dashboard, uses a different credential than your regular Alchemy API key.

A 401 Unauthorized response on this call almost always means the wrong credential was sent in the X-Alchemy-Token header.

What to check

  • The X-Alchemy-Token header must contain your Auth Token, shown at the top of the dashboard Webhooks page. This is separate from any app API key and is specific to managing webhooks through the Notify API.

  • An app API key, an expired token, or a token copied from a different team will all return 401 on this endpoint.

  • Confirm you're logged into the dashboard under the correct team before generating or copying the Auth Token.

Example request

curl --request POST \
  --url https://dashboard.alchemy.com/api/create-webhook \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'X-Alchemy-Token: YOUR-ALCHEMY-AUTH-TOKEN' \
  --data '{
  "network": "ETH_SEPOLIA",
  "webhook_type": "GRAPHQL",
  "webhook_url": "https://your-endpoint.example.com/webhook",
  "graphql_query": "..."
}'

Replace YOUR-ALCHEMY-AUTH-TOKEN with the Auth Token from the Webhooks page, not your app's API key.

If you've confirmed the correct Auth Token is being sent and still see a 401, contact support@alchemy.com.

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