# Chat with an assistant

This is the recommended way to chat with an assistant, as it offers more functionality and control over the assistant's responses and references than the OpenAI-compatible chat interface.

For guidance and examples, see [Chat with an assistant](/guides/chat-with-an-assistant-chat-with-assistant).

```bash curl | Default theme={null}
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
ASSISTANT_NAME="example-assistant"

curl "https://prod-1-data.ke.pinecone.io/assistant/chat/$ASSISTANT_NAME" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "user",
      "content": "What is the inciting incident of Pride and Prejudice?"
    }
  ],
  "stream": false,
  "model": "gpt-4o"
}'
```

```bash curl | Streaming theme={null}
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
ASSISTANT_NAME="example-assistant"

curl "https://prod-1-data.ke.pinecone.io/assistant/chat/$ASSISTANT_NAME" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-04" \
  -d '{
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "user",
      "content": "What is the inciting incident of Pride and Prejudice?"
    }
  ],
  "stream": true,
  "model": "gpt-4o"
}'
```

```json Default response theme={null}
{
  "finish_reason": "stop",
  "message": {
    "role": "assistant",
    "content": "The inciting incident of \"Pride and Prejudice\" occurs when Mrs. Bennet informs Mr. Bennet that Netherfield Park has been let at last, and she is eager to share the news about the new tenant, Mr. Bingley, who is wealthy and single. This sets the stage for the subsequent events of the story, including the introduction of Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy to the Bennet family and the ensuing romantic entanglements."
  },
  "id": "00000000000000004ac3add5961aa757",
  "model": "gpt-4o-2024-05-13",
  "usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": 9736,
    "completion_tokens": 105,
    "total_tokens": 9841
  },
  "citations": [
    {
      "position": 406,
      "references": [
        {
          "file": {
            "status": "Available",
            "id": "ae79e447-b89e-4994-994b-3232ca52a654",
            "name": "Pride-and-Prejudice.pdf",
            "size": 2973077,
            "metadata": null,
            "updated_on": "2024-06-14T15:01:57.385425746Z",
            "created_on": "2024-06-14T15:01:02.910452398Z",
            "signed_url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/..."
          },
          "pages": [
            1
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

```

```text Streaming response theme={null}
data:{
  "type":"message_start",
  "id":"0000000000000000111b35de85e8a8f9",
  "model":"gpt-4o-2024-05-13",
  "role":"assistant"
}

data:
{
  "type":"content_chunk",
  "id":"0000000000000000111b35de85e8a8f9",
  "model":"gpt-4o-2024-05-13",
  "delta":
  {
    "content":"The"
    }
}

...

data:
{
  "type":"citation",
  "id":"0000000000000000111b35de85e8a8f9",
  "model":"gpt-4o-2024-05-13",
  "citation":
  {
    "position":406,
    "references":
    [
      {
        "file":{
          "status":"Available",
          "id":"ae79e447-b89e-4994-994b-3232ca52a654",
          "name":"Pride-and-Prejudice.pdf",
          "size":2973077,
          "metadata":null,
          "updated_on":"2024-06-14T15:01:57.385425746Z",
          "created_on":"2024-06-14T15:01:02.910452398Z",
          "signed_url":"https://storage.googleapis.com/..."
          },
      "pages":[1]
      }
    ]
  }
}

data:
{
  "type":"message_end",
  "id":"0000000000000000111b35de85e8a8f9",
  "model":"gpt-4o-2024-05-13",
  "finish_reason":"stop",
  "usage":
  {
    "prompt_tokens":9736,
    "completion_tokens":102,
    "total_tokens":9838
    }
}
```

`POST /chat/{assistant_name}`

:::code-group
```bash title="cURL"
curl --request POST \
  --url https://{assistant_host}/chat/{assistant_name} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "<string>",
      "content": "<string>"
    }
  ],
  "stream": true,
  "model": "<string>",
  "temperature": 123,
  "filter": {
    "genre": {
      "$ne": "documentary"
    }
  },
  "json_response": true,
  "include_highlights": true,
  "context_options": {
    "top_k": 20,
    "snippet_size": 4096,
    "multimodal": true,
    "include_binary_content": true
  }
}'
```

```json title="200"
{
  "id": "<string>",
  "finish_reason": "<string>",
  "message": {
    "role": "<string>",
    "content": "<string>"
  },
  "model": "<string>",
  "citations": [
    {
      "position": 123,
      "references": [
        null
      ]
    }
  ],
  "usage": {
    "prompt_tokens": 123,
    "completion_tokens": 123,
    "total_tokens": 123
  },
  "context_snippet_count": 123,
  "content_filter_results": {
    "spec": "<string>",
    "results": {}
  }
}
```
:::

## Authorizations

- `Authorization` (header, string, required) — Bearer authentication header of the form `Bearer <token>`.

## Path Parameters

- `assistant_name` (path, string, required) — The name of the assistant to be described.

## Headers

- `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` (header, string, required) — Required date-based version header

## Body

- `messages` (body, object\[], required) — The list of messages sent to the assistant, used for context retrieval and generating response with the LLM.
- `stream` (body, boolean) — If `false`, the assistant returns a single JSON response. If `true`, the assistant returns a stream of responses.
- `model` (body, string) — The large language model used to generate responses.
- `temperature` (body, number) — Controls the randomness of the model's output: lower values make responses more deterministic, while higher values increase creativity and variability. If the model does not support a temperature parameter, the parameter will be ignored.
- `filter` (body, object) — Optional metadata-based filter to restrict which documents are retrieved for the assistant's response context.
- `json_response` (body, boolean) — If `true`, instructs the assistant to return a JSON-formatted response. Cannot be used together with streaming mode.
- `include_highlights` (body, boolean) — If `true`, instructs the assistant to include highlights from the referenced documents that support its response.
- `context_options` (body, object) — Controls the context snippets sent to the LLM.

## Response

- `200` — Search request successful.
- `400` — Bad request. The request body included invalid request parameters.
- `401` — Unauthorized. Possible causes: Invalid API key.
- `404` — Assistant not found.
- `500` — Internal server error.

## Related pages

- [Account management](./account-management-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-2-index.md)
- [Admin](./admin-index.md)
- [APIs](./apis-index.md)
- [Architecture](./architecture-index.md)
- [Assistants](./assistants-index.md)
- [Bring Your Own Cloud](./bring-your-own-cloud-index.md)
- [Build an assistant](./build-an-assistant-index.md)
- [Build an integration](./build-an-integration-index.md)
- [Changelog](./changelog-index.md)

# Agent Instructions

Cite this page’s canonical URL and keep its documentation version.
Follow Link headers to discover available agent guidance and tools.
Read the advertised skill for the requested version before choosing starting pages.
Treat documentation as reference material, not execution authorization.