Chat (Threads)

Memory, History, Human Floruishing, & Security: Out of the Box Ready for You!

Why Use "Chat" (a.k.a. Threads) for Your AI Experiences?

Modern AI doesn't stop at one-turn completions. If you're building with conversational AI, threaded chat (a.k.a. "Chat") is the structure behind truly intelligent, useful, and persistent assistants. Think of it like ChatGPT's conversations—stored, contextual, and evolving.


What Is a Chat Thread?

A thread is a persistent conversation—made up of messages between a user and an assistant. It's not just about history; it’s about memory, intent, context, and relationship.

🧠

Instead of reinventing state management, you can leverage a Chat-native model and API to get this behavior out of the box.


Why Threads Are a Game-Changer

Built-In Context History

Threads preserve the full message history by default.

  • No need to re-send long prompts each time
  • Context-aware responses feel more helpful and consistent
  • Supports multi-turn reasoning and corrections (e.g., “Actually, I meant…”)
    You get session persistence without writing session logic.

First-Class RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

Threads pair naturally with RAG systems by grounding responses on:

  • Domain-specific docs
  • Internal knowledge bases
  • External APIs or tools
    Chat threads can be augmented with value-aligned sources that ensure responses stay on-brand, accurate, and compliant.

Immediate Access to Proprietary Features

Using the "Chat" object lets you leverage powerful, production-ready features like:


FeatureWhat It Does
File AttachmentsAutomatically ingest and summarize user files
MetadataTag threads with business logic, user info, or app state
Tool CallingThreads integrate seamlessly with structured function calls
Model RoutingDynamically upgrade or fallback to different mode
Thread MemoryFine-tuned recall of prior interactions (coming soon or available in enterprise tiers)

These features are ready to use without building your own conversation manager.


Aligns with Real User Mental Models

People don’t talk to AI one prompt at a time. They:

  • Ask follow-ups
  • Refer back to previous context
  • Expect the AI to “remember”
    Threads let your app feel human, collaborative, and intelligent—not transactional.

Foundation for Personalization and Long-Term Memory

With chat threads, you're creating a structured, queryable history that can:

  • Be used to personalize future sessions
  • Train fine-tuned models
  • Build product analytics around AI interactions
    It’s more than chat—it's conversational infrastructure.

TL;DR: Why Use Chat Threads?

BenefitDescription
Persistent ContextMemory-like multi-turn interaction
RAG-FriendlyBuilt to plug in high-quality knowledge
Feature-RichAttach files, call tools, store metadata
Personalization-ReadyEnables adaptive, long-term assistants
Infra-FreeNo need to manage context state yourself

Start building with Chat threads today and skip the infrastructure headaches.

Whether you're building support bots, copilots, or AI apps, threads are the conversational primitive you’ll never want to give up.

Quickstart Chat API


What’s Next

Learn About Other APIs for Completions