Respond Immediately, Then Process Asynchronously to Prevent Timeouts

Many webhook senders (Stripe, GitHub, Shopify) expect a response within 5-30 seconds. If your workflow takes longer -- calling multiple APIs, processing files, running LLM calls -- the sender will time out and retry, creating duplicate processing. The fix: respond with 200 immediately, then continue processing.

Real-world example: A Shopify order webhook triggers inventory checks across 3 warehouses, shipping rate calculations, and a confirmation email. Total processing: 15-45 seconds. Shopify times out at 5 seconds.

Workflow structure:

[Webhook Node] --> [Respond to Webhook: 200] --> [HTTP Request: Warehouse 1]
  (Response Mode:                                        |
   "Using Respond                                   [HTTP Request: Warehouse 2]
   to Webhook Node")                                     |
                                                    [HTTP Request: Warehouse 3]
                                                         |
                                                    [Calculate Shipping]
                                                         |
                                                    [Send Confirmation Email]
```text
Webhook node configuration:

```json
{
  "httpMethod": "POST",
  "path": "shopify/orders",
  "responseMode": "responseNode"
}
```text
Respond to Webhook node (placed immediately after Webhook):

```json
{
  "respondWith": "json",
  "responseCode": 200,
  "responseBody": "={{ { \"received\": true } }}"
}
```text
The caller gets `200 OK` in milliseconds. All the heavy processing runs after the response is sent. Shopify will not retry, and your workflow has unlimited time to complete.

**Related:** [Set a Unique Encryption Key and Back It Up](../security-best-practices/01-set-a-unique-encryption-key-and-back-it-up.md) | [Use the HTTP Request Node as a Universal Connector](../integration-patterns/01-use-the-http-request-node-as-a-universal-connector.md)