OpenAI Compatible API

The Poe API provides access to hundreds of AI models and bots through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Switch between frontier models from all major labs, open-source models, and millions of community-created bots using the same familiar interface.

Key benefits:

• Use your existing Poe subscription points with no additional setup
• Access models across all modalities: text, image, video, and audio generation
• OpenAI-compatible interface works with existing tools like Cursor, Cline, Continue, and more
• Single API key for hundreds of models instead of managing multiple provider keys

If you're already using the OpenAI libraries, you can use this API as a low-cost way to switch between calling OpenAI models and Poe hosted models/bots to compare output, cost, and scalability, without changing your existing code. If you aren't already using the OpenAI libraries, we recommend that you use our Python SDK.

Using the OpenAI SDK

Python

# pip install openai
import os, openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
    api_key=os.getenv("POE_API_KEY"), # https://poe.com/api_key
    base_url="https://api.poe.com/v1",
)

chat = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="Claude-Opus-4.1",  # or other models (Claude-Sonnet-4, Gemini-2.5-Pro, Llama-3.1-405B, Grok-4..)
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Top 3 things to do in NYC?"}],
)
print(chat.choices[0].message.content)

Node.js

// npm install openai
import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
    apiKey: "your_poe_api_key", // https://poe.com/api_key
    baseURL: "https://api.poe.com/v1",
});

const completion = await client.chat.completions.create({
    model: "Grok-4", // or other models (Claude-Sonnet-4, Gemini-2.5-Pro, GPT-Image-1, Veo-3..)
    messages: [
        {
            role: "system",
            content:
                "You are Grok, a highly intelligent, helpful AI assistant.",
        },
        {
            role: "user",
            content:
                "What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?",
        },
    ],
});

console.log(completion.choices[0].message.content);

cURL

curl "https://api.poe.com/v1/chat/completions" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $POE_API_KEY" \
    -d '{
        "model": "Claude-Sonnet-4",
        "messages": [
            {
                "role": "user",
                "content": "Write a one-sentence bedtime story about a unicorn."
            }
        ]
    }'

Options

1. Poe Python Library (✅ recommended)

   Install with pip install fastapi-poe for a native Python interface, better error handling, and ongoing feature support.

   → See the External Application Guide to get started.

2. OpenAI-Compatible API (for compatibility use cases only)

   Poe also supports the /v1/chat/completions format if you're migrating from OpenAI or need a REST-only setup.

   Base URL: https://api.poe.com/v1

For new projects, use the Python SDK--it's the most reliable and flexible way to build on Poe.

Known Issues & Limitations

Bot Availability

• Private bots are not currently supported - Only public bots can be accessed through the API
• The Assistant bot is not available via the OpenAI-compatible API endpoint

Media Bot Recommendations

• Image, video, and audio bots should be called with stream=False for optimal performance and reliability

Parameter Handling

• Best-effort parameter passing - We make our best attempts to pass down parameters where possible, but some model-specific parameters may not be fully supported across all bots

Additional Considerations

• Some community bots may have varying response formats or capabilities compared to standard language models

API behavior

Here are the most substantial differences from using OpenAI:

• The strict parameter for function calling is ignored, which means the tool use JSON is not guaranteed to follow the supplied schema.
• Audio input is not supported; it will simply be ignored and stripped from input
• Most unsupported fields are silently ignored rather than producing errors. These are all documented below.

Detailed OpenAI Compatible API Support

Request fields

Field	Support status
model	Use poe bot names
max_tokens	Fully supported
max_completion_tokens	Fully supported
stream	Fully supported
stream_options	Fully supported
top_p	Fully supported
tools	Fully Supported
tool_choice	Fully Supported
parallel_tool_calls	Fully Supported
stop	All non-whitespace stop sequences work
temperature	Between 0 and 2 (inclusive).
n	Must be exactly 1
logprobs	Ignored
store	Ignored
metadata	Ignored
response_format	Ignored
prediction	Ignored
presence_penalty	Ignored
frequency_penalty	Ignored
seed	Ignored
service_tier	Ignored
audio	Ignored
logit_bias	Ignored
user	Ignored
modalities	Ignored
top_logprobs	Ignored
reasoning_effort	Ignored

Response fields

Field	Support status
id	Fully supported
choices[]	Will always have a length of 1
choices[].finish_reason	Fully supported
choices[].index	Fully supported
choices[].message.role	Fully supported
choices[].message.content	Fully supported
choices[].message.tool_calls	Fully supported
object	Fully supported
created	Fully supported
model	Fully supported
finish_reason	Fully supported
content	Fully supported
usage.completion_tokens	Fully supported
usage.prompt_tokens	Fully supported
usage.total_tokens	Fully supported
usage.completion_tokens_details	Always empty
usage.prompt_tokens_details	Always empty
choices[].message.refusal	Always empty
choices[].message.audio	Always empty
logprobs	Always empty
service_tier	Always empty
system_fingerprint	Always empty

Error message compatibility

The compatibility layer maintains consistent error formats with the OpenAI API. However, the detailed error messages may not be equivalent. We recommend only using the error messages for logging and debugging.

All errors return:

{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "type": "authentication_error",
    "message": "Invalid API key",
    "metadata": {...}
  }
}

HTTP / code	type	When it happens
400	invalid_request_error	malformed JSON, missing fields
401	authentication_error	bad/expired key
402	insufficient_credits	balance ≤ 0
403	moderation_error	permission denied or authorization issues
404	not_found_error	wrong endpoint / model
408	timeout_error	model didn't start in a reasonable time
413	request_too_large	tokens > context window
429	rate_limit_error	rpm/tpm cap hit
502	upstream_error	model backend not working
529	overloaded_error	transient traffic spike

Retry tips

• Respect Retry-After header on 429/503.
• Exponential back‑off (starting at 250 ms) plus jitter works well.
• Idempotency: resubmit the exact same payload to safely retry.

Header compatibility

While the OpenAI SDK automatically manages headers, here is the complete list of headers supported by Poe's API for developers who need to work with them directly.

Response Headers:

Header	Definition	Support Status
openai-organization	OpenAI org	Unsupported
openai-processing-ms	Time taken processing your API request	Supported
openai-version	REST API version (2020-10-01)	Supported
x-request-id	Unique identifier for this API request (troubleshooting)	Supported

Rate Limit Headers

Our rate limit is 500 rpm, but theres no planned support for any of the following rate limit headers at this time:

• x-ratelimit-limit-requests (how many requests allowed for the time window)
• x-ratelimit-remaining-requests (how many requests remaining for the time window)
• x-ratelimit-reset-requests (timestamp of when the time window resets)

Getting Started

Python

# pip install openai
import os
import openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
  api_key=os.environ.get("POE_API_KEY"),
  base_url="https://api.poe.com/v1",
)
completion = client.chat.completions.create(
  model="gemini-2.5-pro",  # or other models (Claude-Sonnet-4, GPT-4.1, Llama-3.1-405B, Grok-4..)
  messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "What are the top 3 things to do in New York?"}],
)

print(completion.choices[0].message.content)

Node.js

// npm install openai
import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
    apiKey: process.env.POE_API_KEY,
    baseURL: "https://api.poe.com/v1",
});

const completion = await client.chat.completions.create({
    model: "Claude-Sonnet-4", // or other models (Gemini-2.5-Pro, GPT-Image-1, Veo-3, Grok-4..)
    messages: [
        {
            role: "user",
            content: "What are the top 3 things to do in New York?",
        },
    ],
});

console.log(completion.choices[0].message.content);

cURL

curl "https://api.poe.com/v1/chat/completions" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $POE_API_KEY" \
    -d '{
        "model": "Grok-4",
        "messages": [
            {
                "role": "user",
                "content": "What are the top 3 things to do in New York?"
            }
        ]
    }'

Streaming

You can also use OpenAI's streaming capabilities to stream back your response:

Python

# pip install openai
import os
import openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
  api_key=os.environ.get("POE_API_KEY"),
  base_url="https://api.poe.com/v1",
)

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
  model="Claude-Sonnet-4",  # or other models (Gemini-2.5-Pro, GPT-Image-1, Veo-3, Grok-4..)
  messages=[
    {"role": "system", "content": "You are a travel agent. Be descriptive and helpful."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "Tell me about San Francisco"},
  ],
  stream=True,
)

for chunk in stream:
	print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content or "", end="", flush=True)

Node.js

// npm install openai
import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
    apiKey: process.env.POE_API_KEY,
    baseURL: "https://api.poe.com/v1",
});

const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
    model: "Gemini-2.5-Pro", // or other models (Claude-Sonnet-4, GPT-Image-1, Veo-3, Llama-3.1-405B..)
    messages: [
        {
            role: "system",
            content: "You are a travel agent. Be descriptive and helpful.",
        },
        {
            role: "user",
            content: "Tell me about San Francisco",
        },
    ],
    stream: true,
});

for await (const chunk of stream) {
    process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content || "");
}

cURL

curl "https://api.poe.com/v1/chat/completions" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $POE_API_KEY" \
    -d '{
        "model": "gpt-4.1",
        "messages": [
            {
                "role": "system",
                "content": "You are a travel agent. Be descriptive and helpful."
            },
            {
                "role": "user",
                "content": "Tell me about San Francisco"
            }
        ],
        "stream": true
    }' \
    --no-buffer

Migration checklist (OpenAI → Poe in 60 s)

1. Swap base URL - https://api.openai.com/v1 → https://api.poe.com/v1
2. Replace key env var - OPENAI_API_KEY → POE_API_KEY
3. Select the model/bot you want to use e.g. Claude-Opus-4.1
4. Delete any n > 1, audio, or parallel_tool_calls params.
5. Run tests - output should match except for intentional gaps above.

Pricing & Availability

All Poe subscribers can use their existing subscription points with the API at no additional cost.

This means you can seamlessly transition between the web interface and API without worrying about separate billing structures or additional fees. Your regular monthly point allocation works exactly the same way whether you're chatting directly on Poe or accessing bots programmatically through the API.

If your Poe subscription is not enough, you can now purchase add-on points to get as much access as your application requires. Our intent in pricing these points is to charge the same amount for model access that underlying model providers charge. Any add-on points you purchase can be used with any model or bot on Poe and work across both the API and Poe chat on web, iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

Support

Feel free to reach out to support if you come across some unexpected behavior when using our API or have suggestions for future improvements.