---
title: "AIMLAPIChatGenerator"
id: aimllapichatgenerator
slug: "/aimllapichatgenerator"
description: "AIMLAPIChatGenerator enables chat completion using AI models through the AIMLAPI."
---

# AIMLAPIChatGenerator

AIMLAPIChatGenerator enables chat completion using AI models through the AIMLAPI.

<div className="key-value-table">

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Most common position in a pipeline** | After a [ChatPromptBuilder](../builders/chatpromptbuilder.mdx) |
| **Mandatory init variables** | `api_key`: The AIMLAPI API key. Can be set with `AIMLAPI_API_KEY` env var. |
| **Mandatory run variables** | `messages` A list of [`ChatMessage`](../../concepts/data-classes/chatmessage.mdx)  objects |
| **Output variables** | `replies`: A list of [`ChatMessage`](../../concepts/data-classes/chatmessage.mdx)  objects  <br /> <br />`meta`: A list of dictionaries with the metadata associated with each reply, such as token count, finish reason, and so on |
| **API reference** | [AIMLAPI](/reference/integrations-aimlapi) |
| **GitHub link** | https://github.com/deepset-ai/haystack-core-integrations/tree/main/integrations/aimlapi |

</div>

## Overview

`AIMLAPIChatGenerator` provides access to AI models through the AIMLAPI, a unified API gateway for models from various providers. You can use different models within a single pipeline with a consistent interface. The default model is `openai/gpt-5-chat-latest`.

AIMLAPI uses a single API key for all providers, which allows you to switch between or combine different models without managing multiple credentials.

For a complete list of available models, check the [AIMLAPI documentation](https://docs.aimlapi.com/).

The component needs a list of [`ChatMessage`](../../concepts/data-classes/chatmessage.mdx) objects to operate. `ChatMessage` is a data class that contains a message, a role (who generated the message, such as `user`, `assistant`, `system`, `function`), and optional metadata.

You can pass any chat completion parameters valid for the underlying model directly to `AIMLAPIChatGenerator` using the `generation_kwargs` parameter, both at initialization and to the `run()` method.

### Authentication

`AIMLAPIChatGenerator` needs an AIMLAPI API key to work. You can set this key in:

- The `api_key` init parameter using [Secret API](../../concepts/secret-management.mdx)
- The `AIMLAPI_API_KEY` environment variable (recommended)

### Structured Output

`AIMLAPIChatGenerator` supports structured output generation for compatible models, allowing you to receive responses in a predictable format. You can use Pydantic models or JSON schemas to define the structure of the output through the `response_format` parameter in `generation_kwargs`.

This is useful when you need to extract structured data from text or generate responses that match a specific format.

```python
from pydantic import BaseModel
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator

class CityInfo(BaseModel):
    city_name: str
    country: str
    population: int
    famous_for: str

client = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(
    model="openai/gpt-4o-2024-08-06",
    generation_kwargs={"response_format": CityInfo}
)

response = client.run(messages=[
    ChatMessage.from_user(
        "Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany with a population of "
        "approximately 3.7 million. It's famous for its history, culture, and nightlife."
    )
])
print(response["replies"][0].text)

>> {"city_name":"Berlin","country":"Germany","population":3700000,
>> "famous_for":"history, culture, and nightlife"}
```

:::info[Model Compatibility]
Structured output support depends on the underlying model. OpenAI models starting from `gpt-4o-2024-08-06` support Pydantic models and JSON schemas. For details on which models support this feature, refer to the respective model provider's documentation.
:::

### Tool Support

`AIMLAPIChatGenerator` supports function calling through the `tools` parameter, which accepts flexible tool configurations:

- **A list of Tool objects**: Pass individual tools as a list
- **A single Toolset**: Pass an entire Toolset directly
- **Mixed Tools and Toolsets**: Combine multiple Toolsets with standalone tools in a single list

This allows you to organize related tools into logical groups while also including standalone tools as needed.

```python
from haystack.tools import Tool, Toolset
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator

# Create individual tools
weather_tool = Tool(name="weather", description="Get weather info", ...)
news_tool = Tool(name="news", description="Get latest news", ...)

# Group related tools into a toolset
math_toolset = Toolset([add_tool, subtract_tool, multiply_tool])

# Pass mixed tools and toolsets to the generator
generator = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(
    tools=[math_toolset, weather_tool, news_tool]  # Mix of Toolset and Tool objects
)
```

For more details on working with tools, see the [Tool](../../tools/tool.mdx) and [Toolset](../../tools/toolset.mdx) documentation.

### Streaming

`AIMLAPIChatGenerator` supports [streaming](guides-to-generators/choosing-the-right-generator.mdx#streaming-support) the tokens from the LLM directly in output. To do so, pass a function to the `streaming_callback` init parameter.

You can stream output as it's generated. Pass a callback to `streaming_callback`. Use the built-in `print_streaming_chunk` to print text tokens and tool events (tool calls and tool results).

```python
from haystack.components.generators.utils import print_streaming_chunk

# Configure the generator with a streaming callback
component = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(streaming_callback=print_streaming_chunk)

# Pass a list of messages
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage

component.run([ChatMessage.from_user("Your question here")])
```

:::info
Streaming works only with a single response. If a provider supports multiple candidates, set `n=1`.
:::

See our [Streaming Support](guides-to-generators/choosing-the-right-generator.mdx#streaming-support) docs to learn more how `StreamingChunk` works and how to write a custom callback.

We recommend to give preference to `print_streaming_chunk` by default. Write a custom callback only if you need a specific transport (for example, SSE/WebSocket) or custom UI formatting.

## Usage

Install the `aimlapi-haystack` package to use the `AIMLAPIChatGenerator`:

```shell
pip install aimlapi-haystack
```

### On its own

```python
from haystack.components.generators.utils import print_streaming_chunk
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator

client = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(model="openai/gpt-5-chat-latest", streaming_callback=print_streaming_chunk)

response = client.run([ChatMessage.from_user("What's Natural Language Processing? Be brief.")])

>> Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of artificial intelligence that
>> focuses on the interaction between computers and humans through natural language.
>> It involves enabling machines to understand, interpret, and generate human
>> language in a meaningful way, facilitating tasks such as language translation,
>> sentiment analysis, and text summarization.

print(response)

>> {'replies': [ChatMessage(_role=<ChatRole.ASSISTANT: 'assistant'>, _content=
>> [TextContent(text='Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of artificial
>> intelligence that focuses on enabling computers to understand, interpret, and
>> generate human language in a meaningful and useful way.')], _name=None,
>> _meta={'model': 'openai/gpt-5-chat-latest', 'index': 0,
>> 'finish_reason': 'stop', 'usage': {'completion_tokens': 36,
>> 'prompt_tokens': 15, 'total_tokens': 51}})]}
```

With multimodal inputs:

```python
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage, ImageContent
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator

# Use a multimodal model
llm = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(model="openai/gpt-4o")

image = ImageContent.from_file_path("apple.jpg", detail="low")
user_message = ChatMessage.from_user(content_parts=[
    "What does the image show? Max 5 words.",
    image
])

response = llm.run([user_message])["replies"][0].text
print(response)

>>> Red apple on straw.
```

### In a Pipeline

```python
from haystack.components.builders import ChatPromptBuilder
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack import Pipeline

# No parameter init, we don't use any runtime template variables
prompt_builder = ChatPromptBuilder()
llm = AIMLAPIChatGenerator()

pipe = Pipeline()
pipe.add_component("prompt_builder", prompt_builder)
pipe.add_component("llm", llm)
pipe.connect("prompt_builder.prompt", "llm.messages")

location = "Berlin"
messages = [
    ChatMessage.from_system("Always respond in German even if some input data is in other languages."),
    ChatMessage.from_user("Tell me about {{location}}")
]
pipe.run(data={"prompt_builder": {"template_variables": {"location": location}, "template": messages}})

>> {'llm': {'replies': [ChatMessage(_role=<ChatRole.ASSISTANT: 'assistant'>,
>> _content=[TextContent(text='Berlin ist die Hauptstadt Deutschlands und eine der
>> bedeutendsten Städte Europas. Es ist bekannt für ihre reiche Geschichte,
>> kulturelle Vielfalt und kreative Scene.')],
>> _name=None, _meta={'model': 'openai/gpt-5-chat-latest', 'index': 0,
>> 'finish_reason': 'stop', 'usage': {'completion_tokens': 120,
>> 'prompt_tokens': 29, 'total_tokens': 149}})]}
```

Using multiple models in one pipeline:

```python
from haystack.components.builders import ChatPromptBuilder
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack import Pipeline

# Create a pipeline that uses different models for different tasks
prompt_builder = ChatPromptBuilder()
# Use one model for complex reasoning
reasoning_llm = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(model="anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet")
# Use another model for simple tasks
simple_llm = AIMLAPIChatGenerator(model="openai/gpt-5-chat-latest")

pipe = Pipeline()
pipe.add_component("prompt_builder", prompt_builder)
pipe.add_component("reasoning", reasoning_llm)
pipe.add_component("simple", simple_llm)

# Feed the same prompt to both models
pipe.connect("prompt_builder.prompt", "reasoning.messages")
pipe.connect("prompt_builder.prompt", "simple.messages")

messages = [ChatMessage.from_user("Explain quantum computing in simple terms.")]
result = pipe.run(data={"prompt_builder": {"template": messages}})

print("Reasoning model:", result["reasoning"]["replies"][0].text)
print("Simple model:", result["simple"]["replies"][0].text)
```

With tool calling:

```python
from haystack import Pipeline
from haystack.components.tools import ToolInvoker
from haystack.dataclasses import ChatMessage
from haystack.tools import Tool
from haystack_integrations.components.generators.aimlapi import AIMLAPIChatGenerator

def weather(city: str) -> str:
    """Get weather for a given city."""
    return f"The weather in {city} is sunny and 32°C"

tool = Tool(
    name="weather",
    description="Get weather for a given city",
    parameters={"type": "object", "properties": {"city": {"type": "string"}}, "required": ["city"]},
    function=weather,
)

pipeline = Pipeline()
pipeline.add_component("generator", AIMLAPIChatGenerator(tools=[tool]))
pipeline.add_component("tool_invoker", ToolInvoker(tools=[tool]))

pipeline.connect("generator", "tool_invoker")

results = pipeline.run(
    data={
        "generator": {
            "messages": [ChatMessage.from_user("What's the weather like in Paris?")],
            "generation_kwargs": {"tool_choice": "auto"},
        }
    }
)

print(results["tool_invoker"]["tool_messages"][0].tool_call_result.result)
>> The weather in Paris is sunny and 32°C
```