Introducing Okra's Python SDK

Making the right decision on which tech stack to use when building fintech products is important and can have serious implications. You want to choose a programming language that is easy to handle, scalable, high-performing, and coupled with ready-made libraries and components.

Luckily, Python checks all of these boxes.

Even better, you can use Python to build your favorite open finance application idea with Okra. In this article, I'll be walking you through step-by-step instructions on how to use Python to build a fintech app with Okra APIs; spoilers - it's super easy 🎉

Definitions

Okra is the operating system for financial services. Companies of all sizes — from startups to multinational banks use Okra to build digital financial platforms & services.

Prerequisites

This article is not an intro to Python, and it doesn't cover the basics. You'll need to be familiar with Python and have a basic setup on your machine to get started.

To get started, you need to do the following:

• Sign up with Okra (if you don't already have an account with Okra).
• Retrieve your Okra credentials:
  - Client Token
  - API key

Installation

• To install with pip - $ pip install okra_py_official
• To install from the source, clone this repo - $ git clone <https://github.com/okraHQ/okra_py.git>
• Change directory into the okra_py folder - $ cd okra_py/
• Install the module - $ python setup.py install

Implementation 🎉

Using a simple script of Python snippets, we’re going to explore a few use cases of Okra's Python SDK. All use cases are covered in our docs.

Okra Auth

Okra Auth allows you to validate a user and retrieve their financial information directly to your application, using their internet or mobile banking credentials through informed consent, which ensures a faster and safer onboarding experience.

Initialization

Fetch Auth

Retrieve the bank account associated with a record's current, savings, and domiciliary accounts, along with high-level account data and balances.

Get Auth by ID

Fetch authentication info using the ID of the authentication record.

Get Auth by Customer

Fetch authentication info using the customer ID.

Get Auth by Date

Fetch authentication info using the date range.

Get Auth by Bank

Fetch authentication info using the bank ID.

Get Auth by Customer Date

Fetch authentication for a customer using a date range and customer ID.

Okra Balance

Returns the real-time balance for each of a customer’s accounts. It can be used for existing records that were added via any of Okra’s other products.

Initialization

Fetch Balance

Retrieve bank account balances

Get Balance by ID

Retrieve a bank account balance associated with a record's current, savings, and domiciliary accounts using the ID.

Get Balance by Options

Retrieve the bank account balance associated with a record's current, savings, and domiciliary accounts by passing options.

Get Balance by Customer

Fetch balance info using the customer ID.

Get Balance by Account

Fetch balance info using the account ID.

Get Balance by Type

Fetch balance info using a type of balance.

Conclusion

I hope this article inspired you to kickstart your fintech app with Python and Okra APIs!

We'd love to know how your integration with our SDKs is going, so feel free to buzz us on Slack.

Check out this repo for the entire project, and don't forget to star it.

Read our documentation to explore all of Okra's wonderful services. Or, if you want to try it out for yourself, sign up for a free account to start building with the Okra today.

If you are passionate about open finance, you can also visit our website to see all the services that might be appealing to you.

Contact sales or send an email to sales@okra.ng to get started!