OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that provides a suite of powerful language models. The Strands Agents SDK implements an OpenAI provider, allowing you to run agents against any OpenAI or OpenAI-compatible model.

Installation

OpenAI is configured as an optional dependency in Strands Agents. To install, run:

Python

pip install 'strands-agents[openai]' strands-agents-tools

TypeScript

npm install @strands-agents/sdk

Usage

After installing dependencies, you can import and initialize the Strands Agents’ OpenAI provider as follows:

Python

from strands import Agent
from strands.models.openai import OpenAIModel
from strands_tools import calculator

model = OpenAIModel(
    client_args={
        "api_key": "<KEY>",
    },
    # **model_config
    model_id="gpt-4o",
    params={
        "max_tokens": 1000,
        "temperature": 0.7,
    }
)

agent = Agent(model=model, tools=[calculator])
response = agent("What is 2+2")
print(response)

TypeScript

import { Agent } from '@strands-agents/sdk'
import { OpenAIModel } from '@strands-agents/sdk/openai'

const model = new OpenAIModel({
  apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY || '<KEY>',
  modelId: 'gpt-4o',
  maxTokens: 1000,
  temperature: 0.7,
})

const agent = new Agent({ model })
const response = await agent.invoke('What is 2+2')
console.log(response)

To connect to a custom OpenAI-compatible server:

Python

model = OpenAIModel(
    client_args={
      "api_key": "<KEY>",
      "base_url": "<URL>",
    },
    ...
)

TypeScript

const model = new OpenAIModel({
  apiKey: '<KEY>',
  clientConfig: {
    baseURL: '<URL>',
  },
  modelId: 'gpt-4o',
})

const agent = new Agent({ model })
const response = await agent.invoke('Hello!')

Configuration

Client Configuration

Python

The client_args configure the underlying OpenAI client. For a complete list of available arguments, please refer to the OpenAI source.

TypeScript

The clientConfig configures the underlying OpenAI client. For a complete list of available options, please refer to the OpenAI TypeScript documentation.

Model Configuration

The model configuration sets parameters for inference:

Python

Parameter	Description	Example	Options
model_id	ID of a model to use	gpt-4o	reference
params	Model specific parameters	{"max_tokens": 1000, "temperature": 0.7}	reference

TypeScript

Parameter	Description	Example	Options
modelId	ID of a model to use	gpt-4o	reference
maxTokens	Maximum tokens to generate	1000	reference
temperature	Controls randomness (0-2)	0.7	reference
topP	Nucleus sampling (0-1)	0.9	reference
frequencyPenalty	Reduces repetition (-2.0 to 2.0)	0.5	reference
presencePenalty	Encourages new topics (-2.0 to 2.0)	0.5	reference
params	Additional parameters not listed above	{ stop: ["END"] }	reference

Troubleshooting

Python

Module Not Found

If you encounter the error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'openai', this means you haven’t installed the openai dependency in your environment. To fix, run pip install 'strands-agents[openai]'.

TypeScript

Authentication Errors

If you encounter authentication errors, ensure your OpenAI API key is properly configured. Set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable or pass it via the apiKey parameter in the model configuration.

Advanced Features

Structured Output

OpenAI models support structured output through their native tool calling capabilities. When you use Agent.structured_output(), the Strands SDK automatically converts your schema to OpenAI’s function calling format.

Python

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from strands import Agent
from strands.models.openai import OpenAIModel

class PersonInfo(BaseModel):
    """Extract person information from text."""
    name: str = Field(description="Full name of the person")
    age: int = Field(description="Age in years")
    occupation: str = Field(description="Job or profession")

model = OpenAIModel(
    client_args={"api_key": "<KEY>"},
    model_id="gpt-4o",
)

agent = Agent(model=model)

result = agent.structured_output(
    PersonInfo,
    "John Smith is a 30-year-old software engineer working at a tech startup."
)

print(f"Name: {result.name}")      # "John Smith"
print(f"Age: {result.age}")        # 30
print(f"Job: {result.occupation}") # "software engineer"

TypeScript

// Structured output is not yet supported in the TypeScript SDK

Custom client

Users can pass their own custom OpenAI client to the OpenAIModel for Strands Agents to use directly. Users are responsible for handling the lifecycle (e.g., closing) of the client.

Python

from strands import Agent
from strands.models.openai import OpenAIModel
from openai import AsyncOpenAI

client = AsyncOpenAI(
    api_key= "<KEY>",
)

agent = Agent(
    model = OpenAIModel(
        model_id="gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18",
        client=client
    )
)

async def chat(prompt: str):
    result = await agent.invoke_async(prompt)
    print(result)

async def main():
    await chat("What is 2+2")
    await chat("What is 2*2")
    # close the client
    client.close()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

TypeScript

// Custom client capability is not yet supported in the TypeScript SDK

References

• API
• OpenAI