Getting started with the Plaid API -- Plaid Academy

Interested in getting started adding Plaid to your application? This video will show you how to download and run the quickstart application so you can start connecting with your favorite bank and making calls against the Plaid API.

We’ll also give you a rundown of how Plaid is able to connect to banks on behalf of your users, and finish it up with a whirlwind tour of the code so you can better understand what it’s all doing

This application uses Node and React, but you don’t need to be an expert at either one of these to follow along.

0:00 - Introduction and agenda
1:37 - Prerequisites
2:30 - installing the Quickstart
3:55 - Environments, keys, and products
7:15 - Running the Quickstart
8:50 - Connecting to a bank
9:46 - Talking to the Plaid API
11:41 - Items and Link
12:35 - How it all works
16:45 - A whirlwind tour of the code
22:23 - Making a call to the Plaid endpoint
23:41 - A basic javascript call
24:18 - A not-so-simple Curl call
25:12 - Thank you!

Music by WinkingFoxMusic from Pixabay

[PlaidInc]

One small update at @4:33 -- to simplify things, in June 2024, the Development environment was replaced with free testing in Production. So if you don't see Development on your API Keys page, that's why!

[AmitaiG-dh]

I didn't except it, but this is one of the clearest and most understandable code tutorials I have ever seen

[_skyyskater]

I just have to say, appreciate the Spaceballs reference! I wonder how many people picked up on that :-) Remind me to change the combination on my luggage!

[mohammaddilshadkhan]

That's the greatest walkthrough that I have ever got from the Third Party Library

[notandyvee]

So that's where you went! Huge fan. Great videos as per usual

[ezramagaram]

Excellent, loved the firebase tutorials as well, Todd!

[soccer]

Great video! I am looking to use plaid to get insight into my own personal finance with the various endpoints available. I've created a sample app but am blocked by the oauth requirements. I've been granted production access but it seems that in order to satisfy account setup, I need to provide a legal entity name. How can I as an individual developer work around this hurdle? Would making use of the Hosted Link help me bypass this restriction?

[espressothoughts]

Whoa! Todd from firebase.

We meet again 👋

[rscotten]

This is the developer advocate from Firebase!

[KiranPatil-ptvf]

"When I open the dashboard, why does it show 'Page Not Found' or 'MFA Required' in the URL?

[ANDREWGEN_]

I'd really like to use this to build some personal apps, but I'd really much prefer to keep things subscription-free and avoid 3rd party. It seems like this is one of my last avenues for downloading up-to-date personal bank data daily for personal use.

Is this my best approach?

I just want to create my own budgeting system that links all my financial platforms with updated data. Most of these api's seem to be built for multiple-user apps. How can I approach just building my own app and automations?

[swayamrules]

This was a very well explained video! Would it be possible to share (or does anyone else know) what video editing software was used to create the visualizations starting at 12:36? As a developer, I often find myself needing to create such explainers but have never been able to make one with this level of polish.

[sdobbi]

Excellent explanation! Thank you very much!

[BetosLife]

Hi, I loved the video !

was wondering, I currently already have my own boilerplate with python flask and react so I have started that for my project and am now incorporating the plaid. how would I go about that way since I noted this was starting from scratch and creating the project from scratch

[elviscard]

HELLO, I just followed all steps but got this error: TypeError: Cannot read property 'data' of undefined

[allanbanezify]

Hello, I am using Visual Studio 2015, when I download the Going.Plaid API, it says that it could not install the package into a project that targets .NETframework v4.7.2, do you have any examples on how to get the token using VS 2015?

[HCMOMNI]

Error Code: MISSING_FIELDS
Error Type: INVALID_REQUEST
Error Message: the following required fields are missing: client_id, secret. Followed .env to the T, trying to set it up on mac, do not understand what is wrong

[larakucukdevlet]

Hello, even though I put client_id and secret keys when I try to launch localhost, it gives an error saying client_id and secret are empty. What can be the problem? Thanks

[WDROLLE]

Thanks for making this video! Love to see more. Happy Plaid-ing! lol

[zzify]

For non-React front-ends, what is the equivalent, vanilla JavaScript code for "usePlaidLink"?