Plaid Accounts Expert

Purpose

Provide expert guidance on Plaid account data structures, balance retrieval, account types, and account management.

When to Use

Auto-invoke when users mention:

• Plaid accounts or account data
• Account balances
• Account types (checking, savings, credit)
• Multiple accounts
• Account metadata
• Balance webhooks
• Account updates

Knowledge Base

Plaid accounts documentation in .claude/skills/api/plaid/docs/

Search patterns:

• Grep "account|/accounts/get|/accounts/balance" .claude/skills/api/plaid/docs/ -i
• Grep "balance|account.*type|account.*subtype" .claude/skills/api/plaid/docs/ -i
• Grep "available.*balance|current.*balance" .claude/skills/api/plaid/docs/ -i

Coverage Areas

Account Data

• Account IDs
• Account names
• Account masks (last 4 digits)
• Account types
• Account subtypes
• Official names

Account Types

• Depository (checking, savings, money market)
• Credit (credit card, line of credit)
• Loan (mortgage, student, auto)
• Investment (401k, IRA, brokerage)
• Other (prepaid, cash management)

Balance Information

• Available balance
• Current balance
• Limit (credit accounts)
• ISO currency codes
• Unofficial currency codes
• Real-time balance updates

Account Management

• Multiple account handling
• Account selection UI
• Account persistence
• Account refresh
• Item rotation

Webhooks

• DEFAULT_UPDATE
• NEW_ACCOUNTS_AVAILABLE
• BALANCE updates
• Error notifications

Response Format

## [Accounts Topic]

[Overview of accounts feature]

### API Request

```javascript
const response = await client.accountsBalanceGet({
  access_token: accessToken,
});

const { accounts } = response.data;

Response Structure

{
  "accounts": [{
    "account_id": "vzeNDwK7KQIm4yEog683uElbp9GRLEFXGK98D",
    "balances": {
      "available": 100.50,
      "current": 110.25,
      "limit": null,
      "iso_currency_code": "USD"
    },
    "mask": "0000",
    "name": "Plaid Checking",
    "official_name": "Plaid Gold Standard 0% Interest Checking",
    "type": "depository",
    "subtype": "checking"
  }]
}

Account Types & Subtypes

Depository:

• checking, savings, hsa, cd, money market, paypal, prepaid

Credit:

• credit card, paypal

Loan:

• auto, business, commercial, construction, consumer, home equity, loan, mortgage, overdraft, line of credit, student

Investment:

• 401k, 403b, 457b, 529, brokerage, cash isa, education savings account, gic, health reimbursement arrangement, ira, isa, keogh, lif, life insurance, lira, lrif, lrsp, non-taxable brokerage account, other, other annuity, other insurance, prif, rdsp, resp, retirement, rlif, rrif, rrsp, sarsep, sep ira, simple ira, sipp, stock plan, tfsa, trust, ugma, utma, variable annuity

Integration Patterns

Balance Checking:

async function checkSufficientFunds(
  accessToken,
  accountId,
  amount
) {
  const response = await client.accountsBalanceGet({
    access_token: accessToken,
    options: { account_ids: [accountId] }
  });

  const account = response.data.accounts[0];
  return account.balances.available >= amount;
}

Multi-Account Selection:

// Let user select from multiple accounts
const accounts = response.data.accounts
  .filter(a => a.type === 'depository')
  .map(a => ({
    id: a.account_id,
    name: a.name,
    mask: a.mask,
    balance: a.balances.available
  }));

Best Practices

• Cache account_id, not full account data
• Use /accounts/balance/get for real-time balances
• Handle multiple accounts per Item
• Display mask for user recognition
• Filter by type for specific use cases
• Implement webhook handlers
• Respect balance update frequency

Common Issues

• Issue: Stale balance data

• Solution: Call /accounts/balance/get for real-time

• Issue: Missing available balance

• Solution: Use current balance as fallback

Source: .claude/skills/api/plaid/docs/[filename].md

## Key Endpoints

- `/accounts/get` - Get account metadata
- `/accounts/balance/get` - Get real-time balances
- `/item/get` - Get Item (institution connection) info

## Balance Types

**Available Balance:**
- Amount available for withdrawal/spending
- Accounts for pending transactions
- Use for payment authorization

**Current Balance:**
- Total account balance
- May include pending holds
- Use for display purposes

**Limit:**
- Credit limit (credit accounts only)
- null for non-credit accounts

## Always

- Reference Plaid documentation
- Explain balance types clearly
- Handle multiple accounts
- Show type/subtype usage
- Include webhook integration
- Consider real-time requirements
- Provide account selection patterns