How can I associate API Threads/Messages with the correct Assistant?

Below is an explanation of how this works with the API:

Association at Creation Time

• When you create a run within a thread, you pass the assistant ID in the request body (using the parameter assistant_id).
• That parameter tells OpenAI which assistant to use when executing the run. However, the thread object returned by the API does not include the assistant_id directly.

How to Identify the Assistant for a Thread

• At the API Level:
  The API returns a thread object without an explicit field for the assistant ID. The link to the assistant is implicit in the creation process via the run (which is associated with an assistant ID).

• What You Need to Do:
  Since the thread and message objects don’t retain the assistant association in their fields, you are expected to maintain that mapping locally if you need to reference it later. This is why you plan to have local tables for Threads, Messages, Assistants, and Runs in your database.

Recommended Approach

1. Store the Mapping Locally:
   When you create a run, record the assistant_id along with the corresponding thread ID in your database. This way, if you later retrieve a thread using its ID, you can easily look up which assistant it is associated with.

2. Retrieving the Assistant:
   If you have a thread ID and you need to know its assistant, your application should query your local database based on your earlier stored mapping. Alternatively, if you have a run object (which is returned when you create or retrieve runs), you can directly inspect its assistant_id field.

Example for Local Storage

Here’s a conceptual example in code (using a SQL-like pseudocode) that shows how you might store and then retrieve the mapping:

SQLCopied
-- Create tables
CREATE TABLE Assistants (
    id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
    name TEXT,
    description TEXT
);

CREATE TABLE Threads (
    id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
    user_id TEXT,
    assistant_id TEXT,  -- store the associated assistant
    FOREIGN KEY (assistant_id) REFERENCES Assistants(id)
);

CREATE TABLE Runs (
    id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
    thread_id TEXT,
    assistant_id TEXT,
    created_at TIMESTAMP,
    FOREIGN KEY (thread_id) REFERENCES Threads(id),
    FOREIGN KEY (assistant_id) REFERENCES Assistants(id)
);

And when you create a run via the API, do something like:

PYTHONCopied
# Pseudocode for saving mapping locally
thread_id = response_from_api["id"]
assistant_id = run_request_data["assistant_id"]

# Store mapping in your local Threads table
db.execute("INSERT INTO Threads (id, user_id, assistant_id) VALUES (?, ?, ?)",
           (thread_id, current_user_id, assistant_id))

Summary

• API Behavior: The API requires the assistant ID when creating a run, but it does not embed that ID in the thread/message objects.
• Your Responsibility: You must save the assistant ID along with the thread ID locally if you want to maintain a long-term association beyond the 30-day retention of threads/messages on the API side.

This method ensures that when you retrieve a thread by its ID from your database, you know which assistant was used in that thread.