curl -X POST 'https://api.openai.com/v1/vector_stores/vs_abc123/search' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "query": "example-query"
}'

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

> Search 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/vs_abc123/search' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "query": "example-query"
}'

## Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| vector_store_id | path | string | Yes | The ID of the vector store to search. |
| query | body | string | Yes | A query string for a search |
| rewrite_query | body | boolean | No | Whether to rewrite the natural language query for vector search. |
| max_num_results | body | integer | No | The maximum number of results to return. This number should be between 1 and... |
| filters | body | object | No | A filter to apply based on file attributes. |
| ranking_options | body | object | No | Ranking options for search. |

## Response example
{"object":"vector_store.search_results.page","search_query":["string"]}

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

POST

POST /vector_stores/{vector_store_id}/search — OpenAI API

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

OpenAI API

Search 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
→ 299 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/vs_abc123/search' \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \  -d '{  "query": "example-query"}'

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Required	Description
vector_store_id	path	string	Yes	The ID of the vector store to search.
query	body	string	Yes	A query string for a search
rewrite_query	body	boolean	No	Whether to rewrite the natural language query for vector search.
max_num_results	body	integer	No	The maximum number of results to return. This number should be between 1 and 50 inclusive.
filters	body	object	No	A filter to apply based on file attributes.
ranking_options	body	object	No	Ranking options for search.

Response 200 OK

{
  "object": "vector_store.search_results.page",
  "search_query": [
    "string"
  ],
  "data": [
    {
      "file_id": "string",
      "filename": "string",
      "score": 0,
      "attributes": {},
      "content": [
        {
          "type": "text",
          "text": "string"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "has_more": true,
  "next_page": "string"
}

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