Using Plaid + Dwolla #

Step 1 - Set up an account and integrate with Plaid Link #

To get started, verify that your Plaid account is enabled for the Dwolla integration. Your account will be automatically enabled for Plaid's Sandbox and Development environments once you’ve created an account. Once your Plaid account is setup, add Plaid Link to your site.

A high-level overview of Plaid Link can be referenced below, however reference the Plaid documentation for more information on integrating with Plaid Link.

A sample app is available to help you get started with Plaid Link and Dwolla as well as demonstrate using on-demand authorization. Find the Dwolla + Plaid Integration example in our Github page.

Plaid Link

Plaid Link is handled completely on the client-side using JavaScript. Set up Link using only a few lines of Javascript, and then specify callbacks to handle the public_token after the user has authenticated and created an Item.

Note: When testing in Plaid Sandbox, make sure to use the test credentials user_good/pass_good when creating a Plaid item.

Plaid Link handles the entire onboarding flow securely and quickly, but does not actually retrieve data for the selected financial institution. Instead, the Link module returns a public_token and an account_id (an id representing a user selected account at their FI) via a callback.

This public token, along with the account id must be exchanged for a Plaid access_token by your back-end server making a call to the Plaid API. Finally, you’ll send the access_token and account_id to the Plaid API in exchange for a Dwolla processor_token which will be sent to the Dwolla API in the next step.