curl -X POST 'https://api.openai.com/v1/threads' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{}'

# POST /threads (OpenAI API)
Base URL: https://api.openai.com/v1
Auth: Authorization; OpenAI API key; required.
Request formats: application/json.
Last verified: 2026-10-20

> Create thread

## Critical Gotchas
* The Responses API is the primary interface for new text and tool workflows; Chat Completions remains a separate compatibility API.
* Audio transcription uploads use multipart form data rather than a JSON request body.

## cURL
curl -X POST 'https://api.openai.com/v1/threads' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{}'

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| messages | body | object[] | No | A list of [messages](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/assistants/migrat... |
| tool_resources | body | object | No | A set of resources that are made available to the assistant's tools in this t... |
| metadata | body | object | No | Set of 16 key-value pairs that can be attached to an object. This can be usef... |

## Response example
{"id":"string","object":"thread"}

---
Need an API key? Get one at https://platform.openai.com/api-keys

POST

POST /threads — OpenAI API

OpenAI API key (required); https://api.openai.com/v1

OpenAI API

Create thread

Base URL: https://api.openai.com/v1
Auth: Authorization: Bearer <OPENAI_API_KEY>
Last verified: 2026-10-20 · upstream hash matched

Actions Try in browser→

Agents: curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" this URL
→ 236 tokens · Vary: Accept

Critical gotchas

The Responses API is the primary interface for new text and tool workflows; Chat Completions remains a separate compatibility API.

Audio transcription uploads use multipart form data rather than a JSON request body.

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.openai.com/v1/threads' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \  -d '{}'

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
messages	body	object[]	No	A list of [messages](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/assistants/migration) to start the thread with.
tool_resources	body	object	No	A set of resources that are made available to the assistant's tools in this thread. The resources are specific to the type of tool. For example, the `code_interpreter` tool requires a list of file IDs, while the `file_search` tool requires a list of vector store IDs.
metadata	body	object	No	Set of 16 key-value pairs that can be attached to an object. This can be useful for storing additional information about the object in a structured format, and querying for objects via API or the dashboard. Keys are strings with a maximum length of 64 characters. Values are strings with a maximum length of 512 characters.

Response 200 OK

{
  "id": "string",
  "object": "thread",
  "created_at": 0,
  "tool_resources": {
    "code_interpreter": {
      "file_ids": []
    },
    "file_search": {
      "vector_store_ids": [
        "string"
      ]
    }
  },
  "metadata": {}
}

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