# Consumption API

The Consumption API is what you call to run inference. It's the API behind the [Quickstart](/docs/start-here/quickstart.md) and the one most teams ever touch. Two surfaces sit in front of the same routing engine:

* **OpenAI Chat Completions** at `https://api.thegrid.ai/v1` with `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY`.
* **Anthropic Messages (beta)** at `https://messages-beta.api.thegrid.ai/v1` with `x-api-key: YOUR_KEY`.

Same instruments, same routing, same Consumption key. Pick whichever request shape fits your stack. The canonical instrument list lives in [Current instruments](/docs/instrument-specifications/current-instruments.md); pass the instrument name (Text-Prime, Code-Max, Vision-Standard, etc.) in the `model` field.

## Create a chat completion

{% openapi src="/files/2oEceb4dLmiu7td9HxSC" path="/chat/completions" method="post" %}
[consumption-api-swagger.yaml](https://132387983-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FAFL4lTMN4MTksJiuTkKd%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-b46fc1297b2b733436a371e824cad8f4f8b43dff%2Fconsumption-api-swagger.yaml?alt=media)
{% endopenapi %}

## Create a message (Anthropic-compatible)

{% openapi src="/files/2oEceb4dLmiu7td9HxSC" path="/messages" method="post" %}
[consumption-api-swagger.yaml](https://132387983-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FAFL4lTMN4MTksJiuTkKd%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-b46fc1297b2b733436a371e824cad8f4f8b43dff%2Fconsumption-api-swagger.yaml?alt=media)
{% endopenapi %}

## Quick example

A minimal chat completion call:

```bash
curl -L https://api.thegrid.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "Text-Prime",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "system", "content": "Be concise."},
      {"role": "user", "content": "What is a spot market?"}
    ],
    "max_tokens": 500
  }'
```

The `-L` flag is required. The Consumption API returns a `307 Temporary Redirect` on the way to the supplier endpoint, and cURL does not follow redirects by default. The OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs handle this automatically. See [Request routing and redirects](/docs/api-reference/request-routing-and-redirects.md) for details.

## Where next

* [Authentication](/docs/api-reference/authentication.md): Bearer keys, x-api-key headers, key rotation
* [Current instruments](/docs/instrument-specifications/current-instruments.md): the live instrument catalog
* [Errors and rate limits](/docs/api-reference/errors-and-rate-limits.md)
* [Request routing and redirects](/docs/api-reference/request-routing-and-redirects.md): what the 307 is and which clients need configuration


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