How can I maintain conversation context using a persistent thread in the Assistant API?

The primary issue is that you're creating a new thread on every call. When you call:

JAVASCRIPTCopied
const threadResponse = await openai.beta.threads.create();

a brand new thread ID is generated each time, which means previous conversation context is lost. To maintain conversation history, you need to reuse the same thread for all messages in a conversation. Here are some suggestions:

1. Persist the Thread ID:
   Instead of creating a new thread every time, store the thread ID after its creation and reuse that ID for subsequent messages.

2. Manage Conversation History:
   While you're maintaining a local conversationHistory array, ensure that the thread also contains all previous messages. This means appending new messages into the same thread so that the context is passed along with the request.

3. Thread Run Execution:
   Continue to trigger the assistant run and poll for completion using the persistent thread ID. This will ensure that the assistant sees all previous prompts.

An updated version of your function might look like this (assuming you handle the persistence of the thread ID outside the function or within a session):

JAVASCRIPTCopied
// Assume threadId is maintained globally or within a session
let threadId = null;

async function askGPT(question) {
    try {
        conversationHistory.push({ "role": "user", "content": question });

        // Retrieve the Assistant for debugging (optional)
        const myAssistant = await openai.beta.assistants.retrieve(assistantId);
        console.log(myAssistant); 

        // Use existing thread if available; otherwise create a new one
        if (!threadId) {
          const threadResponse = await openai.beta.threads.create();
          threadId = threadResponse.id;
        }

        // Add a message to the existing thread
        await openai.beta.threads.messages.create(threadId, {
            role: "user",
            content: question
        });

        // Run the assistant to get a response using the persistent thread ID
        const run = await openai.beta.threads.runs.create(
            threadId,
            { assistant_id: assistantId }
        );

        let runStatus = await openai.beta.threads.runs.retrieve(
            threadId,
            run.id
        );

        // Poll for run completion
        while (runStatus.status !== 'completed') {
            await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000)); // Wait for 1 second
            runStatus = await openai.beta.threads.runs.retrieve(threadId, run.id);
        }

        // Retrieve messages after completion
        const messagesResponse = await openai.beta.threads.messages.list(threadId);
        const aiMessages = messagesResponse.data.filter(msg => msg.role === 'assistant');

        // Return the assistant's last response
        return aiMessages[aiMessages.length - 1].content[0].text.value;
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error in askGPT:', error.response ? error.response.data : error);
        return 'An error occurred while processing your request.';
    }
}

By maintaining the same thread (using a persistent threadId), the conversation context will be preserved across multiple interactions.