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Core Concepts

Auto-Publish from Notion

By default, Noxion refreshes content every hour via ISR. This guide shows you how to publish instantly — the moment you check the Public checkbox in Notion, your site updates within seconds.

Noxion has a built-in webhook endpoint that receives events directly from Notion. No external services needed — just configure your Notion integration and you're done.

Notion (Public ✓) ──webhook──▶ /api/notion-webhook (built into Noxion) ──▶ Site updated

How it works​

  1. When you change a page in Notion (edit content, check Public, etc.), Notion sends a webhook event to your Noxion site
  2. Noxion verifies the request signature (HMAC-SHA256)
  3. Noxion triggers ISR revalidation for the homepage and tag pages
  4. Your site updates within seconds

Supported events​

EventTrigger
page.properties_updatedProperty changed (e.g. Public checkbox toggled)
page.content_updatedPage content edited
page.createdNew page created
page.deletedPage moved to trash
page.undeletedPage restored from trash

Step 1: Create a Notion Integration​

If you already have an integration (e.g. for private pages), skip to Step 2.

  1. Go to notion.so/profile/integrations
  2. Click New integration
  3. Give it a name (e.g. "Noxion Auto-Publish")
  4. Set Associated workspace to your workspace
  5. Under Capabilities, enable:
    • ✅ Read content
    • ❌ Insert content (not needed)
    • ❌ Update content (not needed)
  6. Click Submit

Step 2: Connect the integration to your database​

  1. Open your Notion database
  2. Click the ... menu (top right)
  3. Click Add connections
  4. Search for and select your integration

Step 3: Create a webhook subscription​

  1. Go back to notion.so/profile/integrations
  2. Select your integration
  3. Navigate to the Webhooks tab
  4. Click + Create a subscription
  5. Enter your webhook URL: 
    https://yourdomain.com/api/notion-webhook
    HTTPS required

    Notion requires a publicly accessible HTTPS endpoint. This won't work with localhost — your site must be deployed first.

  6. Select event types to subscribe to:
    • ✅ page.properties_updated
    • ✅ page.content_updated
    • ✅ page.created
    • ✅ page.deleted
    • ✅ page.undeleted
  7. Click Create subscription

Step 4: Verify the subscription​

When you create the subscription, Notion sends a one-time verification request to your endpoint. Noxion automatically handles this and logs the verification token.

  1. Check your deployment logs for: 
    [noxion] Notion webhook verification token received: secret_tMrlL1q...
  2. Copy the token
  3. Back in the Notion Webhooks tab, click Verify
  4. Paste the verification token and click Verify subscription

Your webhook is now active.

For security, configure HMAC-SHA256 signature verification:

  1. The verification token you received in Step 4 is also your signing secret
  2. Add it to your environment variables: 
    NOTION_WEBHOOK_SECRET=secret_tMrlL1q...
  3. Redeploy your site

With this set, Noxion will reject any requests that don't have a valid X-Notion-Signature header.

Step 6: Test it​

  1. Open your Notion database
  2. Check the Public checkbox on a page
  3. Your site should update within 1–5 minutes (Notion's event delivery time)
Event delivery timing

Notion delivers most webhook events within 1 minute, and all events within 5 minutes. Some events (like page.content_updated) are aggregated — rapid sequential edits are batched into a single webhook delivery.

Environment variables​

VariableDescription
NOTION_WEBHOOK_SECRETVerification token from Notion for HMAC-SHA256 signature validation. Without this, signature verification is skipped.

Add this to your deployment platform (Vercel, Docker, etc.) alongside your existing environment variables.

Alternative approaches​

If you can't use Notion webhooks (e.g. your Notion plan doesn't support integrations, or you need a simpler setup), there are other options:

Make.com​

Make (formerly Integromat) watches your Notion database and calls Noxion's revalidation endpoint when changes are detected.

  1. Create a Make scenario with Notion → Watch Database Items trigger
  2. Add a filter: only when Public = true
  3. Add HTTP → Make a request: POST to https://yourdomain.com/api/revalidate with JSON body {"secret":"YOUR_REVALIDATE_SECRET"}
  4. Set polling interval (15 min on free tier)

Free tier: 1,000 ops/month, 15-min polling interval.

GitHub Actions​

A scheduled workflow that pings the revalidation endpoint. Free, but minimum 5-minute interval.

# .github/workflows/notion-auto-publish.yml
name: Notion Auto-Publish
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/15 * * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  revalidate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: |
          curl -s -X POST "${{ secrets.SITE_URL }}/api/revalidate" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -d "{\"secret\":\"${{ secrets.REVALIDATE_SECRET }}\"}"

Vercel Deploy Hooks​

Triggers a full site rebuild instead of ISR revalidation:

  1. In Vercel: Settings → Git → Deploy Hooks
  2. Create a hook and use its URL with Make, Zapier, or GitHub Actions
caution

Deploy Hooks trigger a full rebuild (1–3 min). Notion webhooks with ISR revalidation update individual pages in seconds.

Comparison​

ApproachCostLatencyExternal service?
Notion Webhooks (built-in)Free1–5 minNo
Make.comFree (1K ops/month)~15 min (free)Yes
GitHub ActionsFree (2K min/month)5–15 minNo
Vercel Deploy HooksFree1–3 min (full rebuild)Depends on trigger

Troubleshooting​

Webhook events not arriving​

  • Ensure the integration is connected to your database (Step 2)
  • Check that you subscribed to the correct event types (Step 3)
  • Verify the subscription is active (not paused) in the Webhooks tab
  • Check your deployment logs for incoming requests

Signature validation failing​

  • Ensure NOTION_WEBHOOK_SECRET matches the verification token exactly
  • The token starts with secret_ — include the full string
  • Redeploy after adding/changing the environment variable

Changes not appearing after webhook​

  1. Check deployment logs for [noxion] Webhook: page.properties_updated for page ...
  2. If the log appears but the site doesn't update, try clearing the CDN cache
  3. If the log doesn't appear, the webhook may not be reaching your endpoint — check Notion's webhook subscription status

Event aggregation​

Notion batches rapid changes. If you make several quick edits, you'll receive one webhook event (not one per edit). This is expected behavior and doesn't affect the final result — your site will reflect the latest state.

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