Overview
Plaid is a widely-used financial data API that lets your application securely connect to users bank accounts to access transactions, balances, and identity data. It powers many popular personal finance apps and supports thousands of financial institutions across North America and Europe. Developers use it to build budgeting apps, lending platforms, and account verification services.
Beginner Tip
Start in the Plaid Sandbox environment using the provided test credentials; Plaid Link (the front-end component) handles the secure bank connection so you never touch users bank passwords.
Available Data
Example Response
{
"status": "success",
"data": {
"result": "Data from Plaid",
"description": "Connect with user's bank accounts and access transaction data",
"timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
}
} Field Reference
transactions List of transaction objects for the requested account and date range. amount Transaction amount; positive values are debits (money out), negative values are credits (money in). date Posted date of the transaction in YYYY-MM-DD format. merchant_name Cleaned merchant name derived from the raw transaction description. category Hierarchical list of category labels assigned to the transaction. account_id Unique identifier for the bank account this transaction belongs to. Implementation Example
// Create a Link token (first step in Plaid authentication flow)
const url = "https://production.plaid.com/link/token/create";
const payload = {
client_id: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
secret: "YOUR_SECRET",
user: { client_user_id: "user-123" },
client_name: "My App",
products: ["auth", "transactions"],
country_codes: ["US"],
language: "en"
};
const response = await fetch(url, {
method: "POST",
headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
body: JSON.stringify(payload)
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(`Link token: ${data.link_token}`);
console.log(`Expires: ${data.expiration}`); What Can You Build?
Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.
Common Errors & Troubleshooting
Metadata Score Breakdown
Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested
Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested