What is open-assistant-api?

Open Assistant API provides a drop-in replacement for the OpenAI Assistants API that you can run on your own infrastructure. It implements the OpenAI-compatible REST interface so existing code using the official OpenAI Python client works unchanged. The project adds retrieval-augmented generation through the R2R engine, optional web search via the Bing API, and an extensible tool system for custom functions. It supports multimodal inputs and streaming message output. Deployment is via Docker Compose, which spins up the API server, a Celery worker, a playground UI, MySQL, Redis, and MinIO (S3-compatible object storage). Authentication uses Bearer tokens with optional admin-token-protected token management for multi-tenant SaaS-style deployments. The codebase is MIT-licensed and written in Python 3.10 using FastAPI, Celery, SQLModel, and LangChain. There are no published releases yet; the main branch receives regular commits.

Should you self-host open-assistant-api?

open-assistant-api scores 44/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #71 of 120 in AI Assistant. It has 369 GitHub stars.

There was no stable release in the past 12 months, so check the repository's recent activity before you rely on it.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Python.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is OpenOpenAI (45/100, 549 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See open-assistant-api vs OpenOpenAI side by side.

Features

OpenAI Assistants API Compatibility

How to configure open-assistant-api

APP_AES_ENCRYPTION_KEY7700b2f9c8dd982dfaddf8b47a92f1d900507ee8ac335f96a64e9ca0f018b195AES encryption key for secrets
AES encryption key for secrets
APP_API_PREFIX/apiAPI URL prefix
API URL prefix
APP_AUTH_ADMIN_TOKENadminAdmin token for token management APIs
Admin token for token management APIs
APP_AUTH_ENABLEFalseEnable token-based authentication
Enable token-based authentication
values: True/False
APP_DEBUGTrueEnable debug mode
Enable debug mode
values: True/False
APP_ENVlocalEnvironment (local/prod)
Environment (local/prod)
values: local/prod
APP_NAMEopen-assistant-apiApplication name
Application name
APP_SERVER_HOST0.0.0.0Server bind host
Server bind host
APP_SERVER_PORT8086Server port
Server port
APP_SERVER_WORKERS1Number of server workers
Number of server workers
BING_SEARCH_URLhttps://api.bing.microsoft.com/v7.0/searchBing Search API endpoint
Bing Search API endpoint
BING_SUBSCRIPTION_KEYxxxxBing Search API subscription key
Bing Search API subscription key
CELERY_BROKER_URLredis://:123456@127.0.0.1:6379/1Celery broker URL (Redis)
Celery broker URL (Redis)
DB_DATABASEopen_assistantDatabase name
Database name
DB_HOST127.0.0.1Database host
Database host
DB_PASSWORD123456Database password
Database password
DB_POOL_SIZE1Database connection pool size
Database connection pool size
DB_PORT3306Database port
Database port
DB_USERrootDatabase user
Database user
FILE_SERVICE_MODULEapp.services.file.impl.oss_file.OSSFileServiceFile service implementation (OSS or R2R)
File service implementation (OSS or R2R)
values: app.services.file.impl.oss_file.OSSFileService / app.services.file.impl.r2r_file.R2RFileService
LLM_MAX_STEP25Maximum LLM reasoning steps
Maximum LLM reasoning steps
LOG_LEVELDEBUGLogging level
Logging level
values: DEBUG/INFO/WARNING/ERROR
OPENAI_API_BASEOpenAI-compatible API base URL (e.g., One API)
OpenAI-compatible API base URL (e.g., One API)
OPENAI_API_KEYOpenAI/One API key
OpenAI/One API key
R2R_BASE_URLhttp://127.0.0.1:8000R2R API base URL
R2R API base URL
R2R_PASSWORDchange_me_immediatelyR2R password
R2R password
R2R_SEARCH_LIMIT10R2R search result limit
R2R search result limit
R2R_USERNAMEadmin@example.comR2R username
R2R username
REDIS_DB0Redis database number
Redis database number
REDIS_HOSTlocalhostRedis host
Redis host
REDIS_PASSWORD123456Redis password
Redis password
REDIS_PORT6379Redis port
Redis port
S3_ACCESS_KEYminioadminS3 access key
S3 access key
S3_BUCKET_NAMEoasS3 bucket name
S3 bucket name
S3_ENDPOINThttp://minio:9000S3-compatible storage endpoint
S3-compatible storage endpoint
S3_REGIONus-east-1S3 region
S3 region
S3_SECRET_KEYminioadminS3 secret key
S3 secret key
TOOL_WORKER_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT180Tool execution timeout in seconds
Tool execution timeout in seconds
TOOL_WORKER_NUM10Number of tool workers
Number of tool workers
WEB_SEARCH_NUM_RESULTS5Number of web search results
Number of web search results