/venice-api-overview

name: venice-api-overview
description: High-level map of the Venice.ai API - base URL, which auth mode each endpoint accepts (API key, x402 wallet, or none), endpoint categories (including decisions, voice changer, and retired routes), response headers (rate limit, balance, deprecation, x402), pricing model, error shape, and versioning. Load this first when starting any Venice integration.

Venice API Overview

Venice.ai is an OpenAI-compatible inference platform for text, image, audio, video, embeddings, and typed decisions. One API - two ways to pay: a traditional **API key** (Venice account), or a **wallet** (x402, USDC on Base or Solana, no account required).

Use when

• You're writing code against `api.venice.ai` for the first time.
• You need to decide between API-key and x402/wallet authentication.
• You want a quick map of which endpoint to call for which task.
• You need to understand the common response headers (`x-ratelimit-*`, `PAYMENT-REQUIRED`, deprecation headers, etc.).

Base URL

All endpoints live under:

https://api.venice.ai/api/v1

The OpenAPI spec is served at `https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/swagger.yaml` (`info.version` is a `YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS` timestamp; read it from the live spec).

Authentication

| Scheme | Header | Best for | |---|---|---| | `BearerAuth` | `Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY` | Server-side apps, account management, usage analytics, DIEM / bundled credits | | `siwx` (x402) | `SIGN-IN-WITH-X: <base64 SIWX JSON>` (legacy `X-Sign-In-With-X` also accepted) | No account, pay-as-you-go with USDC on Base or Solana, serverless / agents |

Not every endpoint accepts both:

| Endpoints | Accepts | |---|---| | All inference: chat, responses, embeddings, decisions, image, audio (speech, transcriptions, voices, queue/retrieve/complete, voice-changer queue/retrieve/complete), video queue/retrieve/complete, augment, `POST /crypto/rpc/{network}` | Bearer **or** SIWX | | `/api_keys/*` (except `generate_web3_key`), `/billing/*` (except the retired `/billing/usage`), `/characters/*` | Bearer only (a `SIGN-IN-WITH-X` header alone gets `401 Authentication failed`) | | `/x402/balance/{wallet}`, `/x402/transactions/{wallet}` | SIWX only (signer must own the wallet) | | `/models*`, `/image/styles`, `/video/quote` (except upscale models such as `topaz-video-upscale`: Bearer key required, so wallets can't quote them), `/audio/quote`, `/audio/voice-changer/quote`, `/crypto/rpc/networks`, `/tee/attestation`, `/tee/signature`, `/api_keys/generate_web3_key`, `POST /x402/top-up` | No auth needed |

On any route that needs credentials - Bearer-only ones included - a request with **no** `Authorization` and no `SIGN-IN-WITH-X` header gets `402` with an x402 discovery body (payment options + SIWX challenge + `authOptions`), not `401`. See [`venice-auth`](../venice-auth/SKILL.md).

# Bearer
curl https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"zai-org-glm-5-2","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'

// x402 wallet via the SDK (EVM / Base wallets)
import { VeniceClient } from 'venice-x402-client'
const v = new VeniceClient(process.env.WALLET_KEY!)
await v.models()

Endpoint map

Inference

| Category | Endpoints | Skill | |---|---|---| | Chat | `POST /chat/completions` | [`venice-chat`](../venice-chat/SKILL.md) | | Responses (Alpha) | `POST /responses` | [`venice-responses`](../venice-responses/SKILL.md) | | Embeddings | `POST /embeddings` | [`venice-embeddings`](../venice-embeddings/SKILL.md) | | Decisions (Beta) | `POST /decisions` (alias `POST /systemone`) | [`venice-decisions`](../venice-decisions/SKILL.md) | | Image gen | `POST /image/generate`, `POST /images/generations`, `GET /image/styles` | [`venice-image-generate`](../venice-image-generate/SKILL.md) | | Image edit | `POST /image/edit`, `POST /image/multi-edit`, `POST /image/upscale`, `POST /image/background-remove` | [`venice-image-edit`](../venice-image-edit/SKILL.md) | | TTS | `POST /audio/speech`, `POST /audio/voices` (voice cloning) | [`venice-audio-speech`](../venice-audio-speech/SKILL.md) | | STT | `POST /audio/transcriptions` | [`venice-audio-transcription`](../venice-audio-transcription/SKILL.md) | | Music / audio (async) | `POST /audio/quote`, `/audio/queue`, `/audio/retrieve`, `/audio/complete` | [`venice-audio-music`](../venice-audio-music/SKILL.md) | | Voice changer (async) | `POST /audio/voice-changer/quote`, `/queue`, `/retrieve`, `/complete` | [`venice-audio-voice-changer`](../venice-audio-voice-changer/SKILL.md) | | Video (async) | `POST /video/quote`, `/video/queue`, `/video/retrieve`, `/video/complete` | [`venice-video`](../venice-video/SKILL.md) |

Voice changer: the endpoints are in the spec, but no voice-changer model is publicly listed today - check `GET /models?type=music` for a model with `voice_changer: true` first.

Catalog

| Category | Endpoints | Skill | |---|---|---| | Models | `GET /models`, `/models/traits`, `/models/compatibility_mapping` | [`venice-models`](../venice-models/SKILL.md) | | Characters | `GET /characters`, `/characters/{slug}`, `/characters/{slug}/reviews` | [`venice-characters`](../venice-characters/SKILL.md) |

`GET /models?type=` accepts `text` (default), `image`, `video`, `music`, `tts`, `asr`, `embedding`, `upscale`, `inpaint`, `decision`, plus the filters `all` and `code`.

Account, billing, wallet

| Category | Endpoints | Skill | |---|---|---| | API keys | `GET`/`POST`/`PATCH`/`DELETE /api_keys`, `GET /api_keys/{id}`, `/api_keys/rate_limits`, `/api_keys/rate_limits/log`, `/api_keys/generate_web3_key` | [`venice-api-keys`](../venice-api-keys/SKILL.md) | | Billing (Beta) | `GET /billing/balance`, `/billing/usage-history`, `/billing/usage-analytics` | [`venice-billing`](../venice-billing/SKILL.md) | | x402 wallet | `POST /x402/top-up`, `GET /x402/balance/{wallet}`, `GET /x402/transactions/{wallet}` |