Magento 2 – Fix Ryft Payment Webhooks (Lightweight PHP)

I am running a Magento 2 multi-store environment with a Ryft payment gateway already integrated. The majority of the system is in place, but I need an experienced Magento 2 / payment gateway developer to audit, verify, and correctly finalise the Ryft webhook implementation.

This is a senior-level technical task focused on correctness, performance, and reliability.

Critical requirement (please read carefully)

The Ryft webhook must be handled using a lightweight standalone PHP endpoint.

❌ NOT using Magento bootstrap (app/bootstrap.php)

❌ NOT loading the Magento framework just to receive webhooks

❌ NOT relying on heavy Apache or Magento routing

The webhook should be received in plain PHP, validated, deduplicated, and only then pass confirmed data into Magento in a controlled way. The goal is minimal server load, high reliability, and zero duplicate processing.

Current situation

Magento 2 multi-store setup (many stores, shared codebase)

Ryft payments are mostly working

Webhooks are unreliable or not firing consistently

Some order duplication and inconsistent order state updates

Current implementation may be too heavy and loading Magento unnecessarily

What I need you to do

Review the existing Ryft payment and webhook configuration

Verify webhook events are correctly received (eg captured, failed, refunded)

Implement or correct a lightweight PHP webhook endpoint

Validate webhook signatures securely

Ensure idempotent processing (no duplicate order updates if Ryft retries)

Ensure correct Magento order state updates once events are confirmed

Confirm the final setup is production-safe and correctly architected

What I am NOT looking for

A full Magento rewrite

Magento observers handling webhook ingestion

Any solution that loads the Magento framework to receive webhooks

Required experience

Magento 2 (checkout flow, order states, payment modules)

Payment gateway integrations

Webhooks, retries, signatures, and idempotency

Clean, efficient, production-grade PHP

Budget

This is a senior task.
Fixed budget up to £750, depending on approach and experience.

To apply, please answer BOTH questions below:

Why is it bad practice to load Magento’s bootstrap when receiving payment webhooks, and what impact does this have on PHP-FPM and server load?

How would you design webhook processing to prevent duplicate order updates if Ryft sends the same event more than once?

Applications that do not answer both questions will not be considered.