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Layer uses a standardized json structure across all endpoints. There are only 3 possible top level fields.

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Data

Contains the requested data from the endpoint and can be either a JSON list or a JSON object.
  • Every top level object or item in an array will contain a type field indicating the entity type.
  • data will only be present if the result is successful, in which case there will be a 2** status code and no error field.
{
  "data":[
    {
      "type":"Business",
      "id":"08cee9cc-389e-44ea-a42e-ffb12670f515",
      "external_id":"id-1",
      "legal_name":"Acme, Inc.",
      "us_state":"AZ",
      "entity_type":"LLC",
      "phone_number":"53924476123",
      "imported_at":"2023-07-13T17:25:59.292451Z",
      "updated_at":"2023-07-13T17:25:59.292451Z",
      "archived_at":null
    },
    {
      "type":"Business",
      "id":"e348d217-1788-494c-9c1c-d8be13b89aba",
      "external_id":"id-2",
      "legal_name":"Acme, Inc.",
      "us_state":"AZ",
      "entity_type":"LLC",
      "phone_number":"69565771257",
      "imported_at":"2023-07-13T17:25:59.720376Z",
      "updated_at":"2023-07-13T17:25:59.720376Z",
      "archived_at":null
    }
  ],
  "meta":{
    
  }
}

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Errors

An array of error objects. error objects will contain the following fields.
  • type: One of a fixed set of categories. Helpful for categorizing & processing errors.
  • description: A human readable error description.
  • error_enum: A stable, machine-readable identifier for programmatically handling specific error conditions. Only present for 4** client errors—not included for 5** server errors. Use error_enum instead of parsing description, as enum values remain stable across API versions while descriptions may change.
  • meta: Optional additional information.
errors will be present only if the request is unsuccessful, in which case there will be a 4** or 5** status code and no data field. 
{
  "errors": [
    {
      "type": "Plaid",
      "description": "Plaid credentials must be set before you can add plaid items to businesses. See /v1/configure/plaid",
      "error_enum": "PlaidCredentialsNotConfigured"
    }
  ]
}

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Meta

An optional object that may be used to communicate metadata about the request. Example use cases include:
  • Idempotency
  • Pagination
  • Rate limits