# finance memory

Notes on bank APIs, Plaid quirks, schema decisions, deferred choices. Append-only.

## 2026-06-21 — pre-build scoping

- **US Bank has no public consumer API.** Plaid is the standard path. Plaid Link runs in the browser (Mac), user authenticates with US Bank, Plaid returns an access token. That token (plus PLAID_CLIENT_ID + PLAID_SECRET) is what subsequent fetches use.
- **Plaid Development tier**: ~$0.30/account/month. For 1 account = ~$4/yr. The free Sandbox tier is for testing only (fake data).
- **Don't put bank credentials anywhere on the lab box.** The mechanical leak vector (daily scrollback → git → GitHub) is too well-established. VPS-only OR Mac-only.
- **Recommend "keyless display" pattern**: Mac holds all creds, pushes JSON snapshots to omidhub. omidhub serves the dashboard but has no bank credentials of any kind. See [[overview]] for details.