How to attach a file upload to an existing (not new) thread?

API
1

Hello! The documentation is pretty clear about how to create a thread and attach a file at the same time:

https://platform.openai.com/docs/assistants/tools/file-search/step-4-create-a-thread

However, I don’t see a way to update an existing thread by attaching a file. Here’s the API documentation for updating a thread:

https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference/threads/modifyThread

I suppose one solution is:

  1. Create my own new Vector Store using https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference/vector-stores/create, and give it an expiration time of 24 hours or so.
  2. Upload the file to the vector store
  3. Attach the vector store to my assistant, using something like:
    def attach_vector_store_to_assistant(self, assistant_id, vector_store_id):
        self.client.beta.assistants.update(
            assistant_id=assistant_id,
            tool_resources={"file_search": {"vector_store_ids": [vector_store_id]}},
        )

(but I’ll have to keep track of what vector stores are already attached so I don’t lose the previous associations, right?)

2

You can only attach one vector store to an assistant and one vector store to a thread.

You can add tool_resources to a thread, or modify the thread.

3

I’d just like to point out… that you’re totally correct!! Ha ha ha. I had to double check, and I hope you aren’t offended. I appreciate the information.

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So… that’s interesting. I’m still wondering, then, how to attach a vector store to an existing thread. Or am I thinking about it wrong? Should I always create a vector store when creating a thread, then add files if the user uploads them? I’m essentially trying to allow users to drag-and-drop files into a chat interface and provide the assistant with the file for basic RAG capabilities, similar to how I can upload a file to ChatGPT or Claude and have it use the uploaded file.

4

I have an AI to answer such questions…

from openai import OpenAI

def modify_thread_with_vector_store(thread_id: str, vector_store_id: str) -> None:
    """
    Modify an OpenAI thread to attach a vector store and update metadata.

    Parameters:
        thread_id (str): The ID of the thread to modify.
        vector_store_id (str): The ID of the vector store to attach.

    Returns:
        None: Outputs the result of the API call.
    """
    client = OpenAI()

    # Update the thread with new metadata and vector store ID
    response = client.beta.threads.update(
        thread_id,
        metadata={
            "i_attached_a_vector_store": "true",
        },
        tool_resources={
            "file_search": {
                "vector_store_ids": [vector_store_id]
            }
        }
    )
    print(response)

# Example usage
thread_id = "thread_abc123"
vector_store_id = "vector_store_abc123"
modify_thread_with_vector_store(thread_id, vector_store_id)
1 Like
5

@_j , Jay, I really appreciate your response. I’ll give this a shot tomorrow, but it looks great at first glance. :man_bowing:

6

The problem with adding it to a thread is every time you create a new thread you have to attach all of the files again… but adding the new files to a vector store is giving an error of Bad Request System.Net.Http.StreamContent

  var vectorFile_Object = new{vector_store_id = vectorStorageID,file_id = _file_id};
  HttpClient _httpClient_Vector = new HttpClient();
  _httpClient_Vector.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", "xxxx-xxxx");
  _httpClient_Vector.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("OpenAI-Beta", "assistants=v2");
  var content_vectorFile = new StringContent(JsonSerializer.Serialize(vectorFile_Object), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
  var response_vectorFile = await _httpClient_Vector.PostAsync($"https://api.openai.com/v1/vector_stores/{vectorStorageID}/files", content_vectorFile);