Sandbox Overview

The Plaid Sandbox is a free and fully-featured environment for application development and testing. All Plaid functionality of both the Plaid API and Plaid Link is supported in the Sandbox environment. A variety of test accounts and institutions are available to test against, and you can create an unlimited number of test Items. Sandbox API keys can be obtained in the Plaid Dashboard.

The Sandbox can be reached by sending HTTPS POST requests to the endpoints on the sandbox.plaid.com domain. In order to use the Sandbox with a client library, specify Sandbox as your environment when initializing.

The default username/password combination for all Sandbox institutions is user_good / pass_good.

Most products can be immediately tested in Sandbox with no extra configuration. Some products, such as Payment Initiation (UK and Europe), may require your account be specially enabled. If the product you want to test against is not available in Sandbox, file a request for access ticket via the Dashboard.

When doing repeated manual tests, or for writing automated tests against Sandbox, completing the Link flow may be impractical. As an alternative, you can also create Items in Sandbox via the API, using a special Sandbox-only endpoint, /sandbox/public_token/create. This endpoint allows you to generate a public_token for an arbitrary institution ID, initial products, and test credentials.

The Sandbox provides rich test data, as well as the ability to generate your own test data. You can also simulate a number of scenarios for testing in Sandbox. Some of the most common Sandbox scenarios are listed below. For additional product-specific testing scenarios, see the documentation for the specific product you are using, or Test credentials.

Update mode in Link is used to handle user logins that have become invalid (for example, due to the user changing their password at their financial institution). An Item that needs to be handled via update mode will enter the ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED error state. To test your update mode flow in Sandbox, you can use the /sandbox/item/reset_login endpoint to force an Item into this state. Sandbox Items will also automatically enter the ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED state 30 days after being created.

An example of using update mode and testing in Sandbox can be found in the Plaid Pattern sample app. Items.js illustrates how to incorporate the handling and testing of update mode using the /sandbox/item/reset_login endpoint.

While the standard Instant Auth flow does not require special configuration to test, the additional Auth flows such as Instant Match, Same-day micro-deposits, and Automated micro-deposits require more complex steps such as verifying micro-deposits or routing numbers. The Sandbox environment provides several test institutions and endpoints that can be used to verify these flows. For more details, see Testing Auth flows.

The Link returning user experience (formerly known as Remember Me) can be tested in Sandbox with several seeded phone numbers. More details can be found at Testing returning user flow in Sandbox.

To simulate updating transactions, see Testing pending and posted transactions.

Plaid provides a special Sandbox-only endpoint, /sandbox/item/fire_webhook, that can be used to trigger a number of webhooks on demand, allowing you to test that you are receiving webhooks successfully. Webhooks specific to the Income and Transfer products can be sent using the /sandbox/transfer/fire_webhook and /sandbox/income/fire_webhook endpoints.

All webhooks that would be fired in Production will also fire in Sandbox, except when using the Transfer product.

Prior to obtaining Production access, you can make free API calls using live data in Limited Production. In Limited Production, the following restrictions apply:

• There is a cap on the number of API calls you can make for each product. Both failed and successful API calls count against this cap. API calls that do not relate to a specific product (such as /accounts/get) do not count against this cap.
• There is a cap on the total number of Items you can create, unless you have full Production access for at least one product.
• You cannot access certain major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo, unless you have full Production access for at least one product and have also completed the OAuth registration process.
• The following products are supported in Limited Production: Assets, Auth, Balance, Identity (including Identity Match), Income, Investments, Liabilities, Payment Initiation, Transactions (including Transactions Refresh), and Enrich. To test other products with live data, request Production access.
• If testing Payment Initiation in Limited Production, limitations on the type and quantity of payments apply. For details, see Testing Payment Initiation.

To remove the limits on your Limited Production access, apply for full Production access. Once you have full Production access for a product, usage limits for that product will be removed from your account. If you have any free API calls remaining, as long as you are direct customer of Plaid, you can continue to use them after receiving Production access; once those credits have been used up, your usage will be billed as normal Production traffic. If you are not a direct customer of Plaid and instead are accessing Plaid via a reseller partner, your free API credits will expire once you receive full Production access.

If you add a subscription-billed product to an Item in Limited Production (for example, by creating an Item initialized with Transactions, Investments, or Liabilities), you will be not be charged for that subscription unless you continue to use the Item after using up your free API requests and receiving full Production access.

If you require additional API calls in Limited Production to evaluate a product, file a Support ticket.