Code Interpreter File ID

[orchid wadi]

Hello,

The docs referenced below say that to retrieve file contents from code interpreter you have to get the container id and file id. i cant find these in a code interpreter output. can anyone help? using javascript. thanks

https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/tools-code-interpreter
https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference/container-files/retrieveContainerFileContent

snippet of my code:

const openai = new OpenAI({ apiKey: env.OPENAI_API_KEY });
      const response = await openai.responses.create({
        model: "gpt-4.1-nano",
        tools: [{
          "type": "code_interpreter",
          "container": { "type": "auto" }
        }],
        //instructions: 'You are a financial-planning report generator.',
        input: `write a 4 line limrick export it as a pdf`, //sample prompt to test pdf
      });
      console.log('OpenAI response:', response);
      const interpreterCall = response.output.find(item => item.type === 'code_interpreter_call');
      if (interpreterCall) {
        console.log('OpenAI container_id:', interpreterCall.container_id);
        console.log('OpenAI file_id:', interpreterCall.id);
        const containerId = interpreterCall.container_id;
        const fileId = interpreterCall.id;
        const url = `https://api.openai.com/v1/containers/${containerId}/files/${fileId}/content`;
        // i dont know if this is the correct fileid. the axious call is erroring out "BAD REQUEST"

        //axios curl call to download the pdf
        try {
          const fileResponse = await axios.get(url, {
            responseType: 'arraybuffer', // to handle binary file content
            headers: {
              'Authorization': `Bearer ${env.OPENAI_API_KEY}`
            }
          });
          const fileContent = fileResponse.data;
          console.log('Retrieved file content length:', fileContent.byteLength);
          // Optionally, write the file content to disk or process as needed
        } catch (error) {
          console.error('Error retrieving file content:', error);
        }
      } else {
        console.log('No code interpreter call found.');
      }

[halcyon marsh]

the container id and file id can be found in the last output block from the response

theres different output types, like message, code_interpreter_call, etc. Essentially every step the ai took. I think what your looking for should always be in the last output type: message

my code is in python but hopefully this helps

[orchid wadi]

Thank you so much Garry I’ll try this out tmrw. Appreciate the input!!

[orchid wadi]

@halcyon marsh thank you this helped!! had to use gpt to write this in JS but this was what i needed!!

even o3 with all the research kept saying that i dont need the container_id. i had to tell it very directly and copy and paste the documentation into the chat and say "No you're wrong" lol

Thank!

[halcyon marsh]

I literally went through this exact problem 2 days ago and had the same experience