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Core Exchange
Getting started
  • Welcome
  • Onboarding guide
  • Implementation checklist
Setup & configuration
  • Dashboard overview
  • Testing & validation
  • Production access
Building your integration
  • Authentication
  • User experience
  • Security best practices
  • Mock server
Post-launch
  • Post-launch operations
  • Dashboard monitoring
  • Consent management
  • Permissions & App Directory
  • Troubleshooting
Reference
  • API reference
  • Changelog
Core Exchange
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Welcome

Build an FDX-aligned API with Plaid's free open finance solution

What this guide contains

This documentation contains everything you need to build and launch your FDX-aligned API. It includes:

  • An onboarding guide covering the end-to-end integration journey, from setup through post-launch
  • A checklist of all the steps that must be completed during each stage of development
  • A visual walkthrough of the experience your customers will have once Plaid is fully integrated to your FDX-aligned API
  • An in-depth explanation of the OAuth-compliant authentication process, including FDX Explorer, which provides an interactive demo of the full OAuth flow and Core Exchange API calls
  • Example requests you can send to the mock server to get familiar with FDX data payloads
  • An API reference with sample requests, responses, and required fields for all FDX-aligned spec endpoints

Core Exchange

Core Exchange is Plaid's free, fully FDX-compliant API specification scoped to the data models and endpoints that power Plaid downstream products. It includes developer documentation, tooling in the Data Partner Dashboard, and dedicated support from the Plaid team.

For more details, see the onboarding guide.

Permissions Manager

Permissions Manager gives data providers the tools to gain visibility into the authorization details for connections their customers have made via Plaid, build a consent portal that enables customers to manage their connections, and receive real-time alerts.

Permissions Manager search interface for looking up user connections
Search by customer to view authorization details

For more details, see Permissions & App Directory.

App Directory

App Directory gives data providers insights about the thousands of apps on Plaid's network that their customers have connected to, including categories and number of connections. App Directory is FDX-aligned and available via both the no-code Dashboard and APIs.

App Directory showing connected applications with categories and connection counts
View connected applications and their details

For more details, see Permissions & App Directory.

Building with Plaid

When you build your API with Plaid, your institution becomes available to Plaid-powered applications. If your institution is not already supported in Plaid Link, it will appear once your API is validated and launched. If your institution is already supported, API connectivity generally leads to better conversion and longer-lasting connections for your end users.

Building your FDX-aligned API with Plaid helps your organization align with industry standards for consumer-authorized data sharing.

Security and privacy

Plaid has established security and privacy processes to help keep your customers' data secure, including TLS 1.2+ enforcement, mTLS support, IP allowlisting, and OAuth with PKCE for public clients. For more details, see Security best practices and the Plaid Security Portal.