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

# POST /vector_stores (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 vector store

## 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/vector_stores' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{}'

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| file_ids | body | string[] | No | A list of [File](https://developers.openai.com/api/reference/resources/files)... |
| name | body | string | No | The name of the vector store. |
| description | body | string | No | A description for the vector store. Can be used to describe the vector store'... |
| expires_after | body | object | No | The expiration policy for a vector store. |
| chunking_strategy | body | object | No | The chunking strategy used to chunk the file(s). If not set, will use the `au... |
| 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":"vector_store"}

---
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POST

POST /vector_stores — OpenAI API

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

OpenAI API

Create vector store

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
→ 311 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/vector_stores' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \  -d '{}'

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
file_ids	body	string[]	No	A list of [File](https://developers.openai.com/api/reference/resources/files) IDs that the vector store should use. Useful for tools like `file_search` that can access files.
name	body	string	No	The name of the vector store.
description	body	string	No	A description for the vector store. Can be used to describe the vector store's purpose.
expires_after	body	object	No	The expiration policy for a vector store.
chunking_strategy	body	object	No	The chunking strategy used to chunk the file(s). If not set, will use the `auto` strategy. Only applicable if `file_ids` is non-empty.
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": "vector_store",
  "created_at": 0,
  "name": "string",
  "usage_bytes": 0,
  "file_counts": {
    "in_progress": 0,
    "completed": 0,
    "failed": 0,
    "cancelled": 0,
    "total": 0
  },
  "status": "expired",
  "expires_after": {
    "anchor": "last_active_at",
    "days": 0
  },
  "expires_at": 0,
  "last_active_at": 0,
  "metadata": {}
}

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