/venice-responses

name: venice-responses
description: Use Venice's Alpha POST /responses endpoint - an OpenAI-compatible, stateless Responses API with typed output blocks (reasoning, message, function_call, web_search_call). Covers request shape, input items, tools (function, web_search, x_search), reasoning controls, incomplete responses, streaming events, differences from /chat/completions, the supported venice_parameters subset, and E2EE behavior.

Venice Responses API (Alpha)

`POST /api/v1/responses` is Venice's OpenAI-compatible Responses endpoint. It returns a **typed output array** instead of a single `message.content` string — useful for agents that need to separate reasoning, messages, tool calls, and web-search events. Internally the request is translated to a chat completion, so model support matches [`venice-chat`](../venice-chat/SKILL.md).

> **Alpha.** The spec labels it Alpha (and its description still says "Alpha testers only"), but access is no longer restricted: any Bearer API key or x402 wallet can call it. Schemas may still change.

Use when

• A client library expects the OpenAI Responses shape (`output[]` with `type: "reasoning" | "message" | "function_call" | "web_search_call"`).
• You want reasoning, message, and tool-call output cleanly separated.
• You want SSE streaming with typed events.

Otherwise use [`venice-chat`](../venice-chat/SKILL.md) — it has structured output, audio/video/file inputs, E2EE, sampling controls, and every `venice_parameters` field.

Limitations vs `/chat/completions`

| Limitation | Detail | |---|---| | **Stateless** | Nothing is stored. Send the full history each call. `previous_response_id`, `store`, `background` are ignored. | | **No E2EE** | E2EE-capable models return `400` unless `venice_parameters.enable_e2ee: false` (TEE-only mode). For encrypted inference use `/chat/completions`. | | **Text + image input only** | `input_text` / `input_image` (and `text` / `image_url` parts). No audio, video, or file parts. | | **No structured output** | `text.format` / `response_format` are dropped. Use `/chat/completions`. | | **Subset of `venice_parameters`** | `character_slug`, `enable_e2ee`, `enable_web_search`, `enable_web_scraping`, `enable_web_citations`, `include_venice_system_prompt`, `include_search_results_in_stream`. Other keys (`strip_thinking_response`, `disable_thinking`, `enable_x_search`, `return_search_results_as_documents`) are silently dropped. | | **No model feature suffixes** | `model: "zai-org-glm-5-1:enable_web_search=on"` resolves the model but ignores the suffix. | | **Few generation controls** | Only `temperature`, `top_p`, `max_output_tokens`. |

Authentication

Same as the rest of the API — `Authorization: Bearer <key>` or `SIGN-IN-WITH-X: <SIWX>` for x402 wallets. See [`venice-auth`](../venice-auth/SKILL.md).

Minimal request

curl https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/responses \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "zai-org-glm-5-1",
    "input": "Explain why the sky is blue in one paragraph."
  }'

OpenAI SDK (Python):

import os
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ["VENICE_API_KEY"], base_url="https://api.venice.ai/api/v1")
resp = client.responses.create(model="zai-org-glm-5-1", input="Explain why the sky is blue.")
print(resp.output_text)

Request fields

| Field | Notes | |---|---| | `model` | Required. Model ID, trait, or compatibility mapping. | | `input` | Required. A string, or an array of input items (below). | | `max_output_tokens` | Positive integer. Mapped to `max_tokens`; above the model's `model_spec.maxCompletionTokens` → `400` on models with an enforced cap. | | `temperature` (0–2), `top_p` (0–1) | Sampling. | | `reasoning.effort` | `none` \| `minimal` \| `low` \| `medium` \| `high` \| `xhigh` \| `max` (per-model support: `model_spec.capabilities.reasoningEffortOptions`). `reasoning` may be `null`. | | `reasoning.enabled` | `false` disables reasoning on supported models and suppresses reasoning blocks. Ignored when an effort is set. | | `reasoning.summary` | `auto` \| `concise` \| `detailed`. Accepted but not forwarded. | | `tools` | See Tools. | | `tool_choice` | `"auto"` \| `"none"` \| `"required"` \| `{"type":"function","function":{"name":"..."}}`. Dropped when no function tools remain. | | `web_search` | Boolean. `true` forces web search on (same as a `{"type":"web_search"}` tool). | | `include` | Only `"reasoning.encrypted_content"` has an effect (adds `encrypted_content` to reasoning blocks when the provider returns it). | | `stream` | Boolean. SSE with typed events. | | `anon_user_id` | Optional end-user id: 1–128 printable ASCII characters, no `||`. Distinct from `user`. | | `fallbacks` | Up to 10 `{model}` entries. Anthropic beta refusal fallback for Claude Fable 5; forwarded only on direct Anthropic routes. | | `venice_parameters` | Subset listed above. Example: `{"character_slug":"alan-watts","enable_web_search":"auto"}`. |

The body is permissive: other fields (`instructions`, `metadata`, `parallel_tool_calls`, `n`, `stop`, `seed`, `prompt_cache_key`, `store`, `previous_response_id`, `background`, `text`, `user`) are accepted without error but **never reach inference** (`user` still splits the error budget per value). Put system instructions in the `input` array instead of `instructions`.

Input items

| Item | Shape | Handling | |---|---|---| | Message | `{role, content}` or `{type:"message", role, content}` | `role`: `user` / `assistant` / `system` / `developer` (`developer` becomes `system`). `content` is a string or an array of parts. | | Function call | `{type:"function_call", call_id, name, arguments}` | Replayed as an assistant tool call. | | Function output | `{type:"function_call_output", call_id, output}` | `output` may be a string, array, object, number, boolean, or null. `input_image` parts inside an array output are forwarded to the model as images. |