plaid-python 
The official python client library for the Plaid API, which is generated from our OpenAPI spec. For the last non-generated version of our library, go here.
Table of Contents
Install
This library only supports python3!
$ pip3 install plaid-pythonDocumentation
The module supports all Plaid API endpoints. For complete information about the API, head to the docs.
Getting Started
Calling Endpoints
To call an endpoint you must create a PlaidApi object.
import plaid
from plaid.api import plaid_api
# Available environments are
# 'Production'
# 'Development'
# 'Sandbox'
configuration = plaid.Configuration(
host=plaid.Environment.Sandbox,
api_key={
'clientId': client_id,
'secret': secret,
}
)
api_client = plaid.ApiClient(configuration)
client = plaid_api.PlaidApi(api_client)Each endpoint returns a dictionary which contains the parsed JSON from the HTTP response.
Versioning
This release only supports the latest Plaid API version, 2020-09-14.
For information about what has changed between versions and how to update your integration, head to the API upgrade guide.
The plaid-python client library is typically updated on a monthly basis. The canonical source for the latest version number is the client library changelog.
Errors
All non-200 responses will throw a plaid.ApiException.
import plaid
from plaid.model.asset_report_get_request import AssetReportGetRequest
try:
request = AssetReportGetRequest(
asset_report_token=asset_report_token,
)
return client.asset_report_get(request)
except plaid.ApiException as e:
response = json.loads(e.body)
# check the code attribute of the error to determine the specific error
if response['error_code'] == 'ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED':
# the users' login information has changed, generate a public_token
# for the user and initialize Link in update mode to
# restore access to this user's data
# see https://plaid.com/docs/api/#updating-items-via-link
else:
...For more information on Plaid response codes, head to the docs.
Data type differences from API and from previous versions
Converting the response to a JSON
As this is a common question, we've included this in the README. plaid-python uses models like TransactionsSyncResponse to encapsulate API responses. If you want to convert this to a JSON, do something like this:
import json
...
response = ... # type TransactionsSyncResponse
# to_dict makes it first a python dictionary, and then we turn it into a string JSON.
json_string = json.dumps(response.to_dict(), default=str)Dates
Dates and datetimes in requests, which are represented as strings in the API and in previous client library versions, are represented in this version of the Python client library as Python datetime.date or datetime.datetime objects. If you need to convert between dates and strings, you can use the datetime.strptime method. For an example, see the Retrieve Transactions sample code later in this Readme. For more information on the Python's datetime module, see Python's official documentation.
Note that the datetime.strptime method will silently remove time zone information. Time zone information is required for request fields that accept datetimes. Failing to include time zone information (or passing in a string, instead of a datetime.datetime object) will result in an error. See the following examples for guidance on datetime.date and datetime.datetime usage.
If the API reference documentation for a field specifies format: date, either of following are acceptable:
from datetime import date
a = date(2022, 5, 5)
b = date.fromisoformat('2022-05-05')If the API reference documentation for a field specifies format: date-time, the following is acceptable:
from datetime import datetime
a = datetime(2022, 5, 5, 22, 35, 49, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)Enums
While the API and previous library versions represent enums using strings, this current library uses Python classes with restricted values.
Old:
'products': ['auth', 'transactions'],
'country_codes': ['US'],
Current:
products=[Products('auth'), Products('transactions')],
country_codes=[CountryCode('US')],
Examples
Create an Item using Link
Exchange a public_token from Plaid Link for a Plaid access token:
import plaid
from plaid.model.item_public_token_exchange_request import ItemPublicTokenExchangeRequest
# the public token is received from Plaid Link
exchange_request = ItemPublicTokenExchangeRequest(
public_token=pt_response['public_token']
)
exchange_response = client.item_public_token_exchange(exchange_request)
access_token = exchange_response['access_token']Create a Stripe bank account token
Exchange a Plaid Link public_token for an API access_token. Then exchange
that access_token and the Plaid Link account_id (received along with the
public_token) for a Stripe bank_account_token:
import plaid
from plaid.model.item_public_token_exchange_request import ItemPublicTokenExchangeRequest
from plaid.model.processor_stripe_bank_account_token_create_request import ProcessorStripeBankAccountTokenCreateRequest
exchange_request = ItemPublicTokenExchangeRequest(
public_token=pt_response['public_token']
)
exchange_response = client.item_public_token_exchange(exchange_request)
access_token = exchange_response['access_token']
request = ProcessorStripeBankAccountTokenCreateRequest(
access_token=access_token,
account_id='[Account ID]',
)
stripe_response = client.processor_stripe_bank_account_token_create(request)
bank_account_token = stripe_response['stripe_bank_account_token']Remove Item
import plaid
from plaid.model.item_remove_request import ItemRemoveRequest
# Provide the access token for the Item you want to remove
request = ItemRemoveRequest(
access_token=accessToken
)
response = client.item_remove(request)Retrieve Transactions (preferred method)
import plaid
from plaid.model.transactions_sync_request import TransactionsSyncRequest
request = TransactionsSyncRequest(
access_token=access_token,
)
response = client.transactions_sync(request)
transactions = response['added']
# the transactions in the response are paginated, so make multiple calls while incrementing the cursor to
# retrieve all transactions
while (response['has_more']):
request = TransactionsSyncRequest(
access_token=access_token,
cursor=response['next_cursor']
)
response = client.transactions_sync(request)
transactions += response['added']Retrieve Transactions (older method)
import plaid
from plaid.model.transactions_get_request_options import TransactionsGetRequestOptions
from plaid.model.transactions_get_request import TransactionsGetRequest
request = TransactionsGetRequest(
access_token=access_token,
start_date=datetime.strptime('2020-01-01', '%Y-%m-%d').date(),
end_date=datetime.strptime('2021-01-01', '%Y-%m-%d').date(),
)
response = client.transactions_get(request)
transactions = response['transactions']
# the transactions in the response are paginated, so make multiple calls while increasing the offset to
# retrieve all transactions
while len(transactions) < response['total_transactions']:
options = TransactionsGetRequestOptions()
options.offset = len(transactions)
request = TransactionsGetRequest(
access_token=access_token,
start_date=datetime.strptime('2020-01-01', '%Y-%m-%d').date(),
end_date=datetime.strptime('2021-01-01', '%Y-%m-%d').date(),
options=options
)
response = client.transactions_get(request)Retrieve Asset Report PDF
from plaid.model.asset_report_pdf_get_request import AssetReportPDFGetRequest
pdf_request = AssetReportPDFGetRequest(asset_report_token=PDF_TOKEN)
pdf = client.asset_report_pdf_get(pdf_request)
FILE = open('asset_report.pdf', 'wb')
FILE.write(pdf.read())
FILE.close()Authentication
Public endpoints (category information) require no authentication and can be accessed as follows:
categories = client.categories_get({})Authenticated endpoints require a (client_id, secret) pair. You do not need to pass in authentication to individual endpoints once you have set it on the plaid.Configuration object.
Contributing
Please see Contributing for guidelines and instructions for local development.