How to beginner · 3 min read

How to use Groq with OpenAI SDK

Quick answer

Use the OpenAI SDK with the base_url set to Groq's API endpoint https://api.groq.com/openai/v1 and your Groq API key. Call client.chat.completions.create with a Groq model like llama-3.3-70b-versatile and your chat messages to get completions.

PREREQUISITES

Python 3.8+
Groq API key
pip install openai>=1.0

Setup

Install the official openai Python package and set your Groq API key as an environment variable.

Run pip install openai to install the SDK.
Export your API key: export GROQ_API_KEY='your_api_key_here' on Linux/macOS or set it in your environment variables on Windows.

bash

pip install openai

Step by step

Use the OpenAI client with base_url set to Groq's API endpoint. Call chat.completions.create with your model and messages to get a chat completion.

python

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ["GROQ_API_KEY"], base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1")

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"}]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

output

I'm doing great, thank you! How can I assist you today?

Common variations

You can enable streaming to receive tokens as they arrive, or use different Groq models by changing the model parameter. The OpenAI SDK supports async calls as well.

python

import asyncio
import os
from openai import OpenAI

async def main():
    client = OpenAI(api_key=os.environ["GROQ_API_KEY"], base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1")
    
    # Async streaming example
    stream = await client.chat.completions.create(
        model="llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Tell me a joke."}],
        stream=True
    )

    async for chunk in stream:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content or "", end="", flush=True)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

output

Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field!

Troubleshooting

If you get authentication errors, verify your GROQ_API_KEY environment variable is set correctly.
If you see model not found errors, confirm you are using a valid Groq model name like llama-3.3-70b-versatile.
For network issues, check your internet connection and firewall settings.

✅

Key Takeaways

Use the OpenAI SDK with base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1" to access Groq models.
Set your Groq API key in the environment variable GROQ_API_KEY before running code.
Call client.chat.completions.create with Groq model names like llama-3.3-70b-versatile for chat completions.
Enable streaming with stream=True for token-by-token output.
Check environment variables and model names if you encounter errors.

Verified 2026-04 · llama-3.3-70b-versatile

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