BlogPlaid Webhooks

How to Test Plaid Webhooks

Plaid webhooks notify you when transactions refresh, items need attention, or identity and auth data changes on linked accounts.

Plaid Official Webhook Docs

1. Plaid Webhook Events

Plaid can send the following webhook events to your endpoint:

TRANSACTIONS.INITIAL_UPDATE
TRANSACTIONS.DEFAULT_UPDATE
TRANSACTIONS.HISTORICAL_UPDATE
AUTH.DEFAULT_UPDATE
IDENTITY.DEFAULT_UPDATE
ITEM.ERROR
ITEM.PENDING_EXPIRATION

2. Set Up a Test Endpoint with HookRay

Follow these steps to start receiving Plaid webhooks for testing:

  1. Go to HookRay and click "Start Testing — Free" to get your unique webhook URL.
  2. Copy the URL (e.g., https://h.hookray.com/abc123).
  3. In your Plaid dashboard, navigate to the webhook settings and paste the HookRay URL as your endpoint.
  4. Select the events you want to receive (see list above).
  5. Trigger a test event — HookRay will show the incoming webhook in real-time.

3. Sample Plaid Webhook Payload

Here's an example of what a Plaid webhook payload looks like:

payload.json
{
  "webhook_type": "TRANSACTIONS",
  "webhook_code": "DEFAULT_UPDATE",
  "item_id": "item_4NW9bQK2m9Tr8A",
  "new_transactions": 3,
  "removed_transactions": [],
  "environment": "sandbox"
}

4. Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Webhook not arriving?

Check that your endpoint URL is correct and publicly accessible. Plaid cannot reach localhost URLs — use HookRay's cloud URL instead.

Getting 400 or 500 errors?

HookRay accepts any payload and returns 200 OK by default, so the issue is likely on Plaid's side. Check your webhook configuration and event selection.

Need to verify webhook signatures?

Plaid signs webhook requests for security. Use HookRay to capture the raw headers and body, then implement signature verification in your application code.

5. Next Steps

  • Use HookRay's webhook replay feature to re-send captured webhooks while building your handler
  • Enable smart parsing (Pro plan) to see Plaid-specific fields highlighted automatically
  • Check the Plaid webhook documentation for the complete event reference

Ready to test Plaid webhooks?

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