openai
[!IMPORTANT]
We're actively working on a new alpha version that migrates fromnode-fetchto builtin fetch.Please try it out and let us know if you run into any issues! https://community.openai.com/t/your-feedback-requested-node-js-sdk-5-0-0-alpha/1063774
OpenAI TypeScript and JavaScript API Library
This library provides convenient access to the OpenAI REST API from TypeScript or JavaScript.
It is generated from our OpenAPI specification with Stainless.
To learn how to use the OpenAI API, check out our API Reference and Documentation.
Installation
npm install openaiInstallation from JSR
deno add jsr:@openai/openai
npx jsr add @openai/openaiThese commands will make the module importable from the @openai/openai scope:
You can also import directly from JSR without an install step if you're using the Deno JavaScript runtime:
import OpenAI from 'jsr:@openai/openai';Usage
The full API of this library can be found in api.md file along with many code examples. The code below shows how to get started using the chat completions API.
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI({
apiKey: process.env['OPENAI_API_KEY'], // This is the default and can be omitted
});
async function main() {
const chatCompletion = await client.chat.completions.create({
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
model: 'gpt-4o',
});
}
main();Streaming responses
We provide support for streaming responses using Server Sent Events (SSE).
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI();
async function main() {
const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
model: 'gpt-4o',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
stream: true,
});
for await (const chunk of stream) {
process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content || '');
}
}
main();If you need to cancel a stream, you can break from the loop
or call stream.controller.abort().
Realtime API beta
The Realtime API enables you to build low-latency, multi-modal conversational experiences. It currently supports text and audio as both input and output, as well as function calling through a WebSocket connection.
The Realtime API works through a combination of client-sent events and server-sent events. Clients can send events to do things like update session configuration or send text and audio inputs. Server events confirm when audio responses have completed, or when a text response from the model has been received. A full event reference can be found here and a guide can be found here.
This SDK supports accessing the Realtime API through the WebSocket API or with ws.
Basic text based example with ws:
// requires `yarn add ws @types/ws`
import { OpenAIRealtimeWS } from 'openai/beta/realtime/ws';
const rt = new OpenAIRealtimeWS({ model: 'gpt-4o-realtime-preview-2024-12-17' });
// access the underlying `ws.WebSocket` instance
rt.socket.on('open', () => {
console.log('Connection opened!');
rt.send({
type: 'session.update',
session: {
modalities: ['text'],
model: 'gpt-4o-realtime-preview',
},
});
rt.send({
type: 'conversation.item.create',
item: {
type: 'message',
role: 'user',
content: [{ type: 'input_text', text: 'Say a couple paragraphs!' }],
},
});
rt.send({ type: 'response.create' });
});
rt.on('error', (err) => {
// in a real world scenario this should be logged somewhere as you
// likely want to continue procesing events regardless of any errors
throw err;
});
rt.on('session.created', (event) => {
console.log('session created!', event.session);
console.log();
});
rt.on('response.text.delta', (event) => process.stdout.write(event.delta));
rt.on('response.text.done', () => console.log());
rt.on('response.done', () => rt.close());
rt.socket.on('close', () => console.log('\nConnection closed!'));To use the web API WebSocket implementation, replace OpenAIRealtimeWS with OpenAIRealtimeWebSocket and adjust any rt.socket access:
import { OpenAIRealtimeWebSocket } from 'openai/beta/realtime/websocket';
const rt = new OpenAIRealtimeWebSocket({ model: 'gpt-4o-realtime-preview-2024-12-17' });
// ...
rt.socket.addEventListener('open', () => {
// ...
});A full example can be found here.
Realtime error handling
When an error is encountered, either on the client side or returned from the server through the error event, the error event listener will be fired. However, if you haven't registered an error event listener then an unhandled Promise rejection error will be thrown.
It is highly recommended that you register an error event listener and handle errors approriately as typically the underlying connection is still usable.
const rt = new OpenAIRealtimeWS({ model: 'gpt-4o-realtime-preview-2024-12-17' });
rt.on('error', (err) => {
// in a real world scenario this should be logged somewhere as you
// likely want to continue procesing events regardless of any errors
throw err;
});Request & Response types
This library includes TypeScript definitions for all request params and response fields. You may import and use them like so:
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI({
apiKey: process.env['OPENAI_API_KEY'], // This is the default and can be omitted
});
async function main() {
const params: OpenAI.Chat.ChatCompletionCreateParams = {
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
model: 'gpt-4o',
};
const chatCompletion: OpenAI.Chat.ChatCompletion = await client.chat.completions.create(params);
}
main();Documentation for each method, request param, and response field are available in docstrings and will appear on hover in most modern editors.
[!IMPORTANT] Previous versions of this SDK used a
Configurationclass. See the v3 to v4 migration guide.
Polling Helpers
When interacting with the API some actions such as starting a Run and adding files to vector stores are asynchronous and take time to complete. The SDK includes helper functions which will poll the status until it reaches a terminal state and then return the resulting object. If an API method results in an action which could benefit from polling there will be a corresponding version of the method ending in 'AndPoll'.
For instance to create a Run and poll until it reaches a terminal state you can run:
const run = await openai.beta.threads.runs.createAndPoll(thread.id, {
assistant_id: assistantId,
});More information on the lifecycle of a Run can be found in the Run Lifecycle Documentation
Bulk Upload Helpers
When creating and interacting with vector stores, you can use the polling helpers to monitor the status of operations. For convenience, we also provide a bulk upload helper to allow you to simultaneously upload several files at once.
const fileList = [
createReadStream('/home/data/example.pdf'),
...
];
const batch = await openai.vectorStores.fileBatches.uploadAndPoll(vectorStore.id, {files: fileList});Streaming Helpers
The SDK also includes helpers to process streams and handle the incoming events.
const run = openai.beta.threads.runs
.stream(thread.id, {
assistant_id: assistant.id,
})
.on('textCreated', (text) => process.stdout.write('\nassistant > '))
.on('textDelta', (textDelta, snapshot) => process.stdout.write(textDelta.value))
.on('toolCallCreated', (toolCall) => process.stdout.write(`\nassistant > ${toolCall.type}\n\n`))
.on('toolCallDelta', (toolCallDelta, snapshot) => {
if (toolCallDelta.type === 'code_interpreter') {
if (toolCallDelta.code_interpreter.input) {
process.stdout.write(toolCallDelta.code_interpreter.input);
}
if (toolCallDelta.code_interpreter.outputs) {
process.stdout.write('\noutput >\n');
toolCallDelta.code_interpreter.outputs.forEach((output) => {
if (output.type === 'logs') {
process.stdout.write(`\n${output.logs}\n`);
}
});
}
}
});More information on streaming helpers can be found in the dedicated documentation: helpers.md
Streaming responses
This library provides several conveniences for streaming chat completions, for example:
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const openai = new OpenAI();
async function main() {
const stream = await openai.beta.chat.completions.stream({
model: 'gpt-4o',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
stream: true,
});
stream.on('content', (delta, snapshot) => {
process.stdout.write(delta);
});
// or, equivalently:
for await (const chunk of stream) {
process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content || '');
}
const chatCompletion = await stream.finalChatCompletion();
console.log(chatCompletion); // {id: "…", choices: […], …}
}
main();Streaming with openai.beta.chat.completions.stream({…}) exposes
various helpers for your convenience including event handlers and promises.
Alternatively, you can use openai.chat.completions.create({ stream: true, … })
which only returns an async iterable of the chunks in the stream and thus uses less memory
(it does not build up a final chat completion object for you).
If you need to cancel a stream, you can break from a for await loop or call stream.abort().
Automated function calls
We provide the openai.beta.chat.completions.runTools({…})
convenience helper for using function tool calls with the /chat/completions endpoint
which automatically call the JavaScript functions you provide
and sends their results back to the /chat/completions endpoint,
looping as long as the model requests tool calls.
If you pass a parse function, it will automatically parse the arguments for you
and returns any parsing errors to the model to attempt auto-recovery.
Otherwise, the args will be passed to the function you provide as a string.
If you pass tool_choice: {function: {name: …}} instead of auto,
it returns immediately after calling that function (and only loops to auto-recover parsing errors).
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI();
async function main() {
const runner = client.beta.chat.completions
.runTools({
model: 'gpt-4o',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'How is the weather this week?' }],
tools: [
{
type: 'function',
function: {
function: getCurrentLocation,
parameters: { type: 'object', properties: {} },
},
},
{
type: 'function',
function: {
function: getWeather,
parse: JSON.parse, // or use a validation library like zod for typesafe parsing.
parameters: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
location: { type: 'string' },
},
},
},
},
],
})
.on('message', (message) => console.log(message));
const finalContent = await runner.finalContent();
console.log();
console.log('Final content:', finalContent);
}
async function getCurrentLocation() {
return 'Boston'; // Simulate lookup
}
async function getWeather(args: { location: string }) {
const { location } = args;
// … do lookup …
return { temperature, precipitation };
}
main();
// {role: "user", content: "How's the weather this week?"}
// {role: "assistant", tool_calls: [{type: "function", function: {name: "getCurrentLocation", arguments: "{}"}, id: "123"}
// {role: "tool", name: "getCurrentLocation", content: "Boston", tool_call_id: "123"}
// {role: "assistant", tool_calls: [{type: "function", function: {name: "getWeather", arguments: '{"location": "Boston"}'}, id: "1234"}]}
// {role: "tool", name: "getWeather", content: '{"temperature": "50degF", "preciptation": "high"}', tool_call_id: "1234"}
// {role: "assistant", content: "It's looking cold and rainy - you might want to wear a jacket!"}
//
// Final content: "It's looking cold and rainy - you might want to wear a jacket!"Like with .stream(), we provide a variety of helpers and events.
Note that runFunctions was previously available as well, but has been deprecated in favor of runTools.
Read more about various examples such as with integrating with zod, next.js, and proxying a stream to the browser.
File uploads
Request parameters that correspond to file uploads can be passed in many different forms:
File(or an object with the same structure)- a
fetchResponse(or an object with the same structure) - an
fs.ReadStream - the return value of our
toFilehelper
import fs from 'fs';
import fetch from 'node-fetch';
import OpenAI, { toFile } from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI();
// If you have access to Node `fs` we recommend using `fs.createReadStream()`:
await client.files.create({ file: fs.createReadStream('input.jsonl'), purpose: 'fine-tune' });
// Or if you have the web `File` API you can pass a `File` instance:
await client.files.create({ file: new File(['my bytes'], 'input.jsonl'), purpose: 'fine-tune' });
// You can also pass a `fetch` `Response`:
await client.files.create({ file: await fetch('https://somesite/input.jsonl'), purpose: 'fine-tune' });
// Finally, if none of the above are convenient, you can use our `toFile` helper:
await client.files.create({
file: await toFile(Buffer.from('my bytes'), 'input.jsonl'),
purpose: 'fine-tune',
});
await client.files.create({
file: await toFile(new Uint8Array([0, 1, 2]), 'input.jsonl'),
purpose: 'fine-tune',
});Handling errors
When the library is unable to connect to the API,
or if the API returns a non-success status code (i.e., 4xx or 5xx response),
a subclass of APIError will be thrown:
async function main() {
const job = await client.fineTuning.jobs
.create({ model: 'gpt-4o', training_file: 'file-abc123' })
.catch(async (err) => {
if (err instanceof OpenAI.APIError) {
console.log(err.status); // 400
console.log(err.name); // BadRequestError
console.log(err.headers); // {server: 'nginx', ...}
} else {
throw err;
}
});
}
main();Error codes are as followed:
| Status Code | Error Type |
|---|---|
| 400 | BadRequestError |
| 401 | AuthenticationError |
| 403 | PermissionDeniedError |
| 404 | NotFoundError |
| 422 | UnprocessableEntityError |
| 429 | RateLimitError |
| >=500 | InternalServerError |
| N/A | APIConnectionError |
Request IDs
For more information on debugging requests, see these docs
All object responses in the SDK provide a _request_id property which is added from the x-request-id response header so that you can quickly log failing requests and report them back to OpenAI.
const completion = await client.chat.completions.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }], model: 'gpt-4o' });
console.log(completion._request_id) // req_123You can also access the Request ID using the .withResponse() method:
const { data: stream, request_id } = await openai.chat.completions
.create({
model: 'gpt-4',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
stream: true,
})
.withResponse();Microsoft Azure OpenAI
To use this library with Azure OpenAI, use the AzureOpenAI
class instead of the OpenAI class.
[!IMPORTANT] The Azure API shape slightly differs from the core API shape which means that the static types for responses / params won't always be correct.
import { AzureOpenAI } from 'openai';
import { getBearerTokenProvider, DefaultAzureCredential } from '@azure/identity';
const credential = new DefaultAzureCredential();
const scope = 'https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default';
const azureADTokenProvider = getBearerTokenProvider(credential, scope);
const openai = new AzureOpenAI({ azureADTokenProvider, apiVersion: "<The API version, e.g. 2024-10-01-preview>" });
const result = await openai.chat.completions.create({
model: 'gpt-4o',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say hello!' }],
});
console.log(result.choices[0]!.message?.content);Realtime API
This SDK provides real-time streaming capabilities for Azure OpenAI through the OpenAIRealtimeWS and OpenAIRealtimeWebSocket clients described previously.
To utilize the real-time features, begin by creating a fully configured AzureOpenAI client and passing it into either OpenAIRealtimeWS.azure or OpenAIRealtimeWebSocket.azure. For example:
const cred = new DefaultAzureCredential();
const scope = 'https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default';
const deploymentName = 'gpt-4o-realtime-preview-1001';
const azureADTokenProvider = getBearerTokenProvider(cred, scope);
const client = new AzureOpenAI({
azureADTokenProvider,
apiVersion: '2024-10-01-preview',
deployment: deploymentName,
});
const rt = await OpenAIRealtimeWS.azure(client);Once the instance has been created, you can then begin sending requests and receiving streaming responses in real time.
Retries
Certain errors will be automatically retried 2 times by default, with a short exponential backoff. Connection errors (for example, due to a network connectivity problem), 408 Request Timeout, 409 Conflict, 429 Rate Limit, and >=500 Internal errors will all be retried by default.
You can use the maxRetries option to configure or disable this:
// Configure the default for all requests:
const client = new OpenAI({
maxRetries: 0, // default is 2
});
// Or, configure per-request:
await client.chat.completions.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'How can I get the name of the current day in JavaScript?' }], model: 'gpt-4o' }, {
maxRetries: 5,
});Timeouts
Requests time out after 10 minutes by default. You can configure this with a timeout option:
// Configure the default for all requests:
const client = new OpenAI({
timeout: 20 * 1000, // 20 seconds (default is 10 minutes)
});
// Override per-request:
await client.chat.completions.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'How can I list all files in a directory using Python?' }], model: 'gpt-4o' }, {
timeout: 5 * 1000,
});On timeout, an APIConnectionTimeoutError is thrown.
Note that requests which time out will be retried twice by default.
Auto-pagination
List methods in the OpenAI API are paginated.
You can use the for await … of syntax to iterate through items across all pages:
async function fetchAllFineTuningJobs(params) {
const allFineTuningJobs = [];
// Automatically fetches more pages as needed.
for await (const fineTuningJob of client.fineTuning.jobs.list({ limit: 20 })) {
allFineTuningJobs.push(fineTuningJob);
}
return allFineTuningJobs;
}Alternatively, you can request a single page at a time:
let page = await client.fineTuning.jobs.list({ limit: 20 });
for (const fineTuningJob of page.data) {
console.log(fineTuningJob);
}
// Convenience methods are provided for manually paginating:
while (page.hasNextPage()) {
page = await page.getNextPage();
// ...
}Advanced Usage
Accessing raw Response data (e.g., headers)
The "raw" Response returned by fetch() can be accessed through the .asResponse() method on the APIPromise type that all methods return.
You can also use the .withResponse() method to get the raw Response along with the parsed data.
const client = new OpenAI();
const response = await client.chat.completions
.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }], model: 'gpt-4o' })
.asResponse();
console.log(response.headers.get('X-My-Header'));
console.log(response.statusText); // access the underlying Response object
const { data: chatCompletion, response: raw } = await client.chat.completions
.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }], model: 'gpt-4o' })
.withResponse();
console.log(raw.headers.get('X-My-Header'));
console.log(chatCompletion);Making custom/undocumented requests
This library is typed for convenient access to the documented API. If you need to access undocumented endpoints, params, or response properties, the library can still be used.
Undocumented endpoints
To make requests to undocumented endpoints, you can use client.get, client.post, and other HTTP verbs.
Options on the client, such as retries, will be respected when making these requests.
await client.post('/some/path', {
body: { some_prop: 'foo' },
query: { some_query_arg: 'bar' },
});Undocumented request params
To make requests using undocumented parameters, you may use // @ts-expect-error on the undocumented
parameter. This library doesn't validate at runtime that the request matches the type, so any extra values you
send will be sent as-is.
client.foo.create({
foo: 'my_param',
bar: 12,
// @ts-expect-error baz is not yet public
baz: 'undocumented option',
});For requests with the GET verb, any extra params will be in the query, all other requests will send the
extra param in the body.
If you want to explicitly send an extra argument, you can do so with the query, body, and headers request
options.
Undocumented response properties
To access undocumented response properties, you may access the response object with // @ts-expect-error on
the response object, or cast the response object to the requisite type. Like the request params, we do not
validate or strip extra properties from the response from the API.
Customizing the fetch client
By default, this library uses node-fetch in Node, and expects a global fetch function in other environments.
If you would prefer to use a global, web-standards-compliant fetch function even in a Node environment,
(for example, if you are running Node with --experimental-fetch or using NextJS which polyfills with undici),
add the following import before your first import from "OpenAI":
// Tell TypeScript and the package to use the global web fetch instead of node-fetch.
// Note, despite the name, this does not add any polyfills, but expects them to be provided if needed.
import 'openai/shims/web';
import OpenAI from 'openai';To do the inverse, add import "openai/shims/node" (which does import polyfills).
This can also be useful if you are getting the wrong TypeScript types for Response (more details).
Logging and middleware
You may also provide a custom fetch function when instantiating the client,
which can be used to inspect or alter the Request or Response before/after each request:
import { fetch } from 'undici'; // as one example
import OpenAI from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI({
fetch: async (url: RequestInfo, init?: RequestInit): Promise<Response> => {
console.log('About to make a request', url, init);
const response = await fetch(url, init);
console.log('Got response', response);
return response;
},
});Note that if given a DEBUG=true environment variable, this library will log all requests and responses automatically.
This is intended for debugging purposes only and may change in the future without notice.
Configuring an HTTP(S) Agent (e.g., for proxies)
By default, this library uses a stable agent for all http/https requests to reuse TCP connections, eliminating many TCP & TLS handshakes and shaving around 100ms off most requests.
If you would like to disable or customize this behavior, for example to use the API behind a proxy, you can pass an httpAgent which is used for all requests (be they http or https), for example:
import http from 'http';
import { HttpsProxyAgent } from 'https-proxy-agent';
// Configure the default for all requests:
const client = new OpenAI({
httpAgent: new HttpsProxyAgent(process.env.PROXY_URL),
});
// Override per-request:
await client.models.list({
httpAgent: new http.Agent({ keepAlive: false }),
});Semantic versioning
This package generally follows SemVer conventions, though certain backwards-incompatible changes may be released as minor versions:
- Changes that only affect static types, without breaking runtime behavior.
- Changes to library internals which are technically public but not intended or documented for external use. (Please open a GitHub issue to let us know if you are relying on such internals.)
- Changes that we do not expect to impact the vast majority of users in practice.
We take backwards-compatibility seriously and work hard to ensure you can rely on a smooth upgrade experience.
We are keen for your feedback; please open an issue with questions, bugs, or suggestions.
Requirements
TypeScript >= 4.5 is supported.
The following runtimes are supported:
- Node.js 18 LTS or later (non-EOL) versions.
- Deno v1.28.0 or higher.
- Bun 1.0 or later.
- Cloudflare Workers.
- Vercel Edge Runtime.
- Jest 28 or greater with the
"node"environment ("jsdom"is not supported at this time). - Nitro v2.6 or greater.
Web browsers: disabled by default to avoid exposing your secret API credentials. Enable browser support by explicitly setting
dangerouslyAllowBrowserto true'.<summary>More explanation</summary>Why is this dangerous?
Enabling the
dangerouslyAllowBrowseroption can be dangerous because it exposes your secret API credentials in the client-side code. Web browsers are inherently less secure than server environments, any user with access to the browser can potentially inspect, extract, and misuse these credentials. This could lead to unauthorized access using your credentials and potentially compromise sensitive data or functionality.When might this not be dangerous?
In certain scenarios where enabling browser support might not pose significant risks:
- Internal Tools: If the application is used solely within a controlled internal environment where the users are trusted, the risk of credential exposure can be mitigated.
- Public APIs with Limited Scope: If your API has very limited scope and the exposed credentials do not grant access to sensitive data or critical operations, the potential impact of exposure is reduced.
- Development or debugging purpose: Enabling this feature temporarily might be acceptable, provided the credentials are short-lived, aren't also used in production environments, or are frequently rotated.
Note that React Native is not supported at this time.
If you are interested in other runtime environments, please open or upvote an issue on GitHub.