OpenAI Node 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 openai
You can import in Deno via:
import OpenAI from 'https://deno.land/x/openai@v4.61.1/mod.ts';
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'],
});
async function main() {
const chatCompletion = await client.chat.completions.create({
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
model: 'gpt-3.5-turbo',
});
}
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-4',
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()
.
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'],
});
async function main() {
const params: OpenAI.Chat.ChatCompletionCreateParams = {
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
model: 'gpt-3.5-turbo',
};
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 Configuration
class. 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, 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-4',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }],
stream: true,
});
stream.on('content', (delta, snapshot) => {
process.stdout.write(delta);
});
for await (const chunk of stream) {
process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content || '');
}
const chatCompletion = await stream.finalChatCompletion();
console.log(chatCompletion);
}
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-3.5-turbo',
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,
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';
}
async function getWeather(args: { location: string }) {
const { location } = args;
return { temperature, precipitation };
}
main();
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
fetch
Response
(or an object with the same structure) - an
fs.ReadStream
- the return value of our
toFile
helper
import fs from 'fs';
import fetch from 'node-fetch';
import OpenAI, { toFile } from 'openai';
const client = new OpenAI();
await client.files.create({ file: fs.createReadStream('input.jsonl'), purpose: 'fine-tune' });
await client.files.create({ file: new File(['my bytes'], 'input.jsonl'), purpose: 'fine-tune' });
await client.files.create({ file: await fetch('https://somesite/input.jsonl'), purpose: 'fine-tune' });
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-3.5-turbo', training_file: 'file-abc123' })
.catch(async (err) => {
if (err instanceof OpenAI.APIError) {
console.log(err.status);
console.log(err.name);
console.log(err.headers);
} 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 |
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 });
const result = await openai.chat.completions.create({
model: 'gpt-4-1106-preview',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say hello!' }],
});
console.log(result.choices[0]!.message?.content);
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:
const client = new OpenAI({
maxRetries: 0,
});
await client.chat.completions.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'How can I get the name of the current day in Node.js?' }], model: 'gpt-3.5-turbo' }, {
maxRetries: 5,
});
Timeouts
Requests time out after 10 minutes by default. You can configure this with a timeout
option:
const client = new OpenAI({
timeout: 20 * 1000,
});
await client.chat.completions.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'How can I list all files in a directory using Python?' }], model: 'gpt-3.5-turbo' }, {
timeout: 5 * 1000,
});
On timeout, an APIConnectionTimeoutError
is thrown.
Note that requests which time out will be retried twice by default.
List methods in the OpenAI API are paginated.
You can use for await … of
syntax to iterate through items across all pages:
async function fetchAllFineTuningJobs(params) {
const allFineTuningJobs = [];
for await (const fineTuningJob of client.fineTuning.jobs.list({ limit: 20 })) {
allFineTuningJobs.push(fineTuningJob);
}
return allFineTuningJobs;
}
Alternatively, you can make 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);
}
while (page.hasNextPage()) {
page = page.getNextPage();
}
Advanced Usage
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-3.5-turbo' })
.asResponse();
console.log(response.headers.get('X-My-Header'));
console.log(response.statusText);
const { data: chatCompletion, response: raw } = await client.chat.completions
.create({ messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say this is a test' }], model: 'gpt-3.5-turbo' })
.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,
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"
:
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';
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';
const client = new OpenAI({
httpAgent: new HttpsProxyAgent(process.env.PROXY_URL),
});
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, using import OpenAI from "npm:openai"
.
-
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 dangerouslyAllowBrowser
to true'.
More explanation
Why is this dangerous?
Enabling the dangerouslyAllowBrowser
option 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.