Recently I had a good case to apply debouncing, when working on a project syncing invoice data from Procore to QuickBooks

Procore fires invoice-update webhooks extremely fast, but I only needed the final stable version, not every draft change. This is where debouncing becomes essential.

Where debouncing comes from

Debouncing originally comes from electrical engineering. Mechanical switches “bounce,” producing multiple noisy signals when pressed. Engineers had to filter this noise to get one clean event — and software later adopted the same idea.

Three useful debouncing patterns

Leading debouncing: trigger on the first event

Example: auto-suggestion boxes that show results immediately on the first keystroke while ignoring rapid follow-ups.

Trailing debouncing: trigger after things settle

Example: search bars that wait until typing stops before running a query.

This is what I used for Procore-to-QuickBooks updates: collect rapid webhook bursts, sync only when the invoice stops changing.

Hybrid debouncing: trigger at the start and at the end

Example: file uploads that show an instant “file received” message (leading) and then process the file only when the upload fully stabilizes (trailing).

Why debouncing matters

Debouncing is a simple pattern, but it can dramatically:

• Clean up noisy event streams
• Reduce wasted API calls
• Keep integrations stable

In practice, it allows engineers to focus on meaningful events rather than reacting to every transient change.

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