Dwolla + Plaid - Understanding Processor Token

API Support
1

I’m creating an application that will allow a user to transfer money from one of their checking accounts to another one of their checking accounts. I’m using Plaid and Dwolla to do this.

I’m having trouble understanding how exactly Plaid and Dwolla communicate to determine the Customer. I have my code set up correctly to use Plaid API to generate a processorToken for an institution and an account ID. I’ve also created a second processorToken for the 2nd checking account.

I don’t understand how Dwolla links this processorToken to a specific Customer in Dwolla. The example code says to pass the processorToken with an account ‘name’ to the API. The account name is stored on Plaid though, how does it link to the right Customer?

var customerUrl = 'https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/{customer_id}';
    var requestBody = {
      'plaidToken': processorToken1,
      'name': accounts[0].name // accounts is returned from the Plaid API call
    };

Is the link between Dwolla Customer and Plaid’s accounts made here, by linking the Customer ID with a plaidToken? In Dwolla sandbox, the Customer lists an account with “Jane Doe’s Checking”, is this just an example account that has nothing to do with Plaid/Dwolla linking? The name doesn’t have to match anything in Plaid’s records then?

Thanks!

Edit: We will create a Customer using the Dwolla API when a user signs up, but currently in Sandbox mode we’re just creating them by hand.

2

After working through the docs and writing some proof of concept code, I understand this better. The unique combination of the accountToken (from Plaid), accountId (from Plaid), and customerID (from Dwolla) are then processed behind the scenes to create verified accounts in Dwolla that can be used to transfer/receive money.

3

The name parameter refers to the bank nickname that you or your Customer can set for reference.
This does not need to be tied to Plaid or Dwolla specifically, so it’s up to your end-users on how they want to manage this naming.