> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.brale.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Structure

> How Brale API resources relate to each other, including accounts, addresses, automations, and financial institutions.

# Brale API structure

How core resources relate to each other when you build on Brale.

## At a glance

* **Client-owned Account** holds your API credentials and owns downstream resources.
* **Managed Accounts** are customer accounts you register under your client account.
* **Addresses** are the canonical source/destination primitive (internal custodial or external).
* **Automations** create virtual receiving accounts that map to underlying addresses.
* **Financial Institutions** are legacy offchain funding records; prefer Addresses. (Shown for backward compatibility.)

## Relationship diagram

```mermaid theme={null}
graph TD
  %% Top-Level: Client-Owned Account
  A1["Client Owned Account<br/>(Holds API credentials)"]
  A1 --> AO["Account_ID (owned)<br/>type=internal"]
  AO --> AO_FS["Funding Source<br/>FinancialInstitution_ID (legacy)"]
  AO --> AO_AUTO["Automations_ID"]

  %% Managed Custodial Accounts
  A1 --> MA["Managed Account<br/>Account_ID (internal)"]
  MA --> MA_FS["Funding Source<br/>FinancialInstitution_ID (legacy)"]
  MA --> MA_AUTO["Automations_ID"]

  %% External Address Records
  A1 --> ADDR["Address_ID<br/>type=external"]
  ADDR --> TT["transfer_type"]
  ADDR --> VT["value_type"]

  %% Internal Addresses (custodial)
  AO --- N1["Address_ID<br/>type=internal"]
  MA --- N2["Address_ID<br/>type=internal"]

  %% Virtual accounts created by automations
  AO_AUTO --> VA1["Virtual Account"]
  MA_AUTO --> VA2["Virtual Account"]
  VA1 --- VA1_VT["value_type"]
  VA1 --- VA1_TT["transfer_type"]
  VA2 --- VA2_VT["value_type"]
  VA2 --- VA2_TT["transfer_type"]
```

## Key points

* All IDs (`account_id`, `address_id`, `automation_id`, etc.) are KSUIDs (26 chars, time-sortable).
* Use `address_id` for all transfer endpoints (onchain and offchain). Financial Institutions are deprecated and retained only for legacy flows.
* Automations produce virtual accounts that resolve to addresses; they surface the `transfer_type` and `value_type` you configure.

### Internal vs. External

* `type=internal` → Brale-custodied resources (accounts you own; addresses Brale holds for you or your managed accounts; automation virtual accounts).
* `type=external` → Counterparty data you register (e.g., recipient bank/wallet addresses).

## Related links

* [Accounts](/key-concepts/accounts)
* [Addresses](/key-concepts/addresses)
* [Automations](/key-concepts/automations)
* [Transfers](/key-concepts/transfers)
* [OpenAPI](https://api.brale.xyz/openapi)