curl -X GET 'https://api.openai.com/v1/conversations/conv_123/items/msg_abc?include=example' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

# GET /conversations/{conversation_id}/items/{item_id} (OpenAI API)
Base URL: https://api.openai.com/v1
Auth: Authorization; OpenAI API key; required.
Last verified: 2026-10-20

> Retrieve an item

## 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 GET 'https://api.openai.com/v1/conversations/conv_123/items/msg_abc?include=example' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| conversation_id | path | string | Yes | The ID of the conversation that contains the item. |
| item_id | path | string | Yes | The ID of the item to retrieve. |
| include | query | string[] | No | Additional fields to include in the response. See the `include` parameter for... |

## Response example
{"type":"message","id":"string"}

---
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GET

GET /conversations/{conversation_id}/items/{item_id} — OpenAI API

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

OpenAI API

Retrieve an item

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
→ 215 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 GET 'https://api.openai.com/v1/conversations/conv_123/items/msg_abc?include=example' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
conversation_id	path	string	Yes	The ID of the conversation that contains the item.
item_id	path	string	Yes	The ID of the item to retrieve.
include	query	string[]	No	Additional fields to include in the response. See the `include` parameter for [listing Conversation items above](https://developers.openai.com/api/reference/resources/conversations/subresources/items/methods/list#%28resource%29%20conversations.items%20%3E%20%28method%29%20list%20%3E%20%28params%29%20default%20%3E%20%28param%29%20include%20%3E%20%28schema%29) for more information.

Response 200 OK

{
  "type": "message",
  "id": "string",
  "status": "in_progress",
  "role": "unknown",
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "input_text",
      "text": "string",
      "prompt_cache_breakpoint": {
        "mode": "explicit"
      }
    }
  ],
  "phase": "commentary"
}

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