When a Plaid Item needs an auth update, it seems like Plaid can't access new txn or balance data for that Item.
- When the Link UI finishes an auth update, will we soon receive webhooks for txns that were made during the window when the auth was invalid and Plaid didn't have access?
E.g. Customer changes their bank password on Jan 1st. They make a purchase from that bank account on Jan 2nd; we won't get a webhook for that then because Plaid can't get new data. On Jan 3rd, they go through the Link auth update. Will we get a webhook for the txn on Jan 2nd, but delivered on the 3rd?
- Is there any delay between when the auth update is completed in the Link UI and when our backend can query for transactions during the time window when the auth was invalid?
E.g. Customer changes their bank password on Jan 1st. They make a purchase from that bank account on Jan 2nd. On Jan 3rd, they go through the Link auth update. Will we be able to immediately hit the /transactions endpoint to see that Jan 2nd transaction? Or is there a few minutes delay? How will we know when the delay is over?
I ask this second question because upon initial Item creation, access to transactions isn't immediate and wonder if there's a similar situation in this case.
We want to make sure we recover from invalid auth and don't skip transaction data.
Hi David,
Thanks for reaching out!
First off, it's important to note that transactions do not update in real time. We gather transactions in increments - the average is around every 6 hours, but this will be highly variable from institution to institution.
To answer the first question, a webhook is not sent immediately upon an item entering a good state, but a webhook will be sent the next time we update transactions on our end.
As for the second, if the update is successful there is no delay from the time the user exits Link to the time API requests may be made - this should be immediate. Please note, however, that a /transactions/get call made immediately after the item enters a good state will not return transactions from the time the item was in a bad state. New transactions will be available once we have updated transactions for that item on our end.
I hope this helps to clear things up, but if you have any further questions about this please feel free to reach back out here. Have a great weekend!
Cheers, Matt Plaid Support
Thanks so much for this insight.
Specifically on
New transactions will be available once we have updated transactions for that item on our end.
Is there a way to know that you have updated transactions? When we receive the next webhook? Is there anything else we can look at to know that we'll now be able to go back and successfully get transactions from when the item was in a bad state?
Thanks!
Hey David,
You are correct: a webhook is the only way to notify you in real time of when we receive new transactions for the item. Please let me know if you have any further questions about this!
Cheers, Matt