curl -X GET 'https://api.openai.com/v1/threads/thread-id/messages?limit=20&order=desc&after=example-after&before=example-before&run_id=run-id' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

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

> List messages

## 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/threads/thread-id/messages?limit=20&order=desc&after=example-after&before=example-before&run_id=run-id' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| thread_id | path | string | Yes | The ID of the [thread](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/assistants/migr... |
| limit | query | integer | No | A limit on the number of objects to be returned. Limit can range between 1 an... |
| order | query | string | No | Sort order by the `created_at` timestamp of the objects. `asc` for ascending... |
| after | query | string | No | A cursor for use in pagination. `after` is an object ID that defines your pla... |
| before | query | string | No | A cursor for use in pagination. `before` is an object ID that defines your pl... |
| run_id | query | string | No | Filter messages by the run ID that generated them.  |

## Response example
{"object":"list","data":[{}]}

---
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GET

GET /threads/{thread_id}/messages — OpenAI API

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

OpenAI API

List messages

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
→ 310 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/threads/thread-id/messages?limit=20&order=desc&after=example-after&before=example-before&run_id=run-id' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
thread_id	path	string	Yes	The ID of the [thread](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/assistants/migration) the messages belong to.
limit	query	integer	No	A limit on the number of objects to be returned. Limit can range between 1 and 100, and the default is 20.
order	query	string	No	Sort order by the `created_at` timestamp of the objects. `asc` for ascending order and `desc` for descending order.
after	query	string	No	A cursor for use in pagination. `after` is an object ID that defines your place in the list. For instance, if you make a list request and receive 100 objects, ending with obj_foo, your subsequent call can include after=obj_foo in order to fetch the next page of the list.
before	query	string	No	A cursor for use in pagination. `before` is an object ID that defines your place in the list. For instance, if you make a list request and receive 100 objects, starting with obj_foo, your subsequent call can include before=obj_foo in order to fetch the previous page of the list.
run_id	query	string	No	Filter messages by the run ID that generated them.

Response 200 OK

{
  "object": "list",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "string",
      "object": "thread.message",
      "created_at": 0,
      "thread_id": "string",
      "status": "in_progress",
      "incomplete_details": {
        "reason": "content_filter"
      },
      "completed_at": 0,
      "incomplete_at": 0,
      "role": "user",
      "content": [
        {
          "type": "image_file",
          "image_file": {
            "file_id": "[recursive or deeply nested schema]",
            "detail": "[recursive or deeply nested schema]"
          }
        }
      ],
      "assistant_id": "string",
      "run_id": "string",
      "attachments": [
        {
          "file_id": "string",
          "tools": [
            "[recursive or deeply nested schema]"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "metadata": {}
    }
  ],
  "first_id": "msg_abc123",
  "last_id": "msg_abc123",
  "has_more": false
}

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