dottxt Python Library

The .txt Python library provides access to the .txt REST API from Python 3.10+ applications.

Request API access here.

It provides two client surfaces:

• DotTxt for sync access with DotTxt helpers and OpenAI-compatible namespaces
• AsyncDotTxt for async access with the same helper semantics

The API uses:

• base URL: https://api.dottxt.ai/v1
• auth: Authorization: Bearer $DOTTXT_API_KEY
• primary endpoints: GET /models and POST /chat/completions

Install

pip install dottxt

Configure

export DOTTXT_API_KEY="your-api-key"

All clients in this package read DOTTXT_API_KEY by default.

Optional overrides:

export DOTTXT_BASE_URL="https://api.dottxt.ai/v1"
export DOTTXT_MODEL="<model-id>"

CLI

Use the dottxt CLI for login, model discovery, and one-off generation.

• CLI reference: docs/cli.md
• Client reference: docs/client.md
• Schema validation: dottxt schema check schema.json

Client Surfaces

Choose the client that matches the shape you want to work with:

• DotTxt.generate(...) and AsyncDotTxt.generate(...) accept JSON Schema as a string/object, plus any typed schema supported by Pydantic TypeAdapter (for example: Pydantic models, Enums, Literals, Unions, Optionals, and typed containers), and objects exposing to_json() -> str (for example Genson). Root {"type":"structural-tag", ...} schema objects are accepted without JSON Schema metaschema validation. They return a validated Pydantic model instance for Pydantic input, or parsed JSON for the other schema input types.
• DotTxt and AsyncDotTxt also expose OpenAI SDK chat and models namespaces for direct SDK access alongside DotTxt helpers.

For constructor kwargs passed through to the OpenAI SDK client (DotTxt(..., **client_kwargs) / AsyncDotTxt(..., **client_kwargs)), see OpenAI Python base client parameters.

Native DotTxt Client

from typing import Literal

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

from dottxt import DotTxt


class IncidentSummary(BaseModel):
    severity: Literal["low", "medium", "high"]
    team: str = Field(max_length=32)


client = DotTxt()

result = client.generate(
    model="openai/gpt-oss-20b",
    input="Summarize this incident: checkout errors are blocking purchases.",
    response_format=IncidentSummary,
)
print(result)
# Example model output:
# severity='high' team='checkout'
print(result.model_dump())
# Example output:
# {'severity': 'high', 'team': 'checkout'}

models = client.models.list()
print([model.id for model in models.data])
# Example output:
# ['openai/gpt-oss-20b', 'openai/gpt-4.1-mini']

Async Native Client

import asyncio
from typing import Literal

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

from dottxt import AsyncDotTxt


class IncidentSummary(BaseModel):
    severity: Literal["low", "medium", "high"]
    team: str = Field(max_length=32)


async def main() -> None:
    client = AsyncDotTxt()
    result = await client.generate(
        model="openai/gpt-oss-20b",
        input="Summarize this incident: checkout errors are blocking purchases.",
        response_format=IncidentSummary,
    )
    print(result)
    # Example model output:
    # severity='high' team='checkout'
    print(result.model_dump())
    # Example output:
    # {'severity': 'high', 'team': 'checkout'}

    models = await client.models.list()
    print([model.id for model in models.data])
    # Example output:
    # ['openai/gpt-oss-20b', 'openai/gpt-4.1-mini']


asyncio.run(main())

For DotTxt and AsyncDotTxt, generate(...) accepts response_format as:

• a Pydantic model class
• a TypedDict type
• a dataclass type
• an Enum class
• a typing.Literal[...] type
• a typing.Union[...] type
• a typing.Optional[...] type
• typed containers such as list[...], dict[...], tuple[...]
• a JSON string containing JSON Schema
• a JSON object (dict)
• an object exposing to_json() -> str that returns JSON Schema

Notes:

• Raw list instances as response_format are not supported.
• Root {"type":"structural-tag", ...} schema objects bypass metaschema checks.

For direct chat.completions.create(...), pass the wrapped OpenAI-style response_format payload yourself.

Use DotTxt.models.list() and AsyncDotTxt.models.list() for model listing.

Streaming Fields

AsyncDotTxt.stream(...) yields PatchEvent objects as the model fills in a schema-constrained response. The wire format is the gateway's stream: "patch" mode (RFC 6902 JSON Patch over NDJSON).

Each event carries the raw op (event.op) and an independent deep copy of the document so far (event.snapshot). For the common case of reacting to one field at a time, use the demux properties: event.field is the JSON Pointer with the leading / stripped ("intent", "steps/0", "address/city"), and event.value is the op's value.

import asyncio
from typing import Literal

from pydantic import BaseModel

from dottxt import AsyncDotTxt


class SupportTicket(BaseModel):
    # Field order = arrival order. Put what unblocks downstream work first.
    intent: Literal["billing", "technical", "account"]
    urgency: Literal["low", "medium", "high", "critical"]
    reply: str


async def main() -> None:
    client = AsyncDotTxt()
    stream = client.stream(
        model="openai/gpt-oss-20b",
        response_format=SupportTicket,
        input="I was charged twice this month, please refund the duplicate.",
    )
    async for event in stream:
        match event.field:
            case "intent":
                print(f"dispatching to {event.value} queue")
            case "urgency" if event.value == "critical":
                print("paging oncall")
            case "reply":
                print(f"reply: {event.value}")


asyncio.run(main())

The routing decision can fire tens of milliseconds into generation while reply continues to stream. See docs/client.md for the full reference.

OpenAI-Compatible Usage

Use DotTxt when you want an OpenAI-style client surface with chat.completions.create(...) and models.list().

from typing import Literal

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

from dottxt import DotTxt as OpenAI


class IncidentSummary(BaseModel):
    severity: Literal["low", "medium", "high"]
    team: str = Field(max_length=32)


client = OpenAI()

completion = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="openai/gpt-oss-20b",
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Summarize this incident: checkout errors are blocking purchases.",
        }
    ],
    response_format={
        "type": "json_schema",
        "json_schema": {
            "name": "incident_summary",
            "schema": IncidentSummary.model_json_schema(),
        },
    },
)
print(completion.choices[0].message.content)
# Example output:
# {"severity":"high","team":"checkout"}

models = client.models.list()
print([model.id for model in models.data])
# Example output:
# ['openai/gpt-oss-20b', 'openai/gpt-4.1-mini']

The compatibility surface expects the wrapped OpenAI-style response_format payload:

• {"type": "json_schema", "json_schema": {...}}

Examples

• Provide a list of messages as input
• Use a JSON Schema to generate
• Use a Pydantic BaseModel to generate
• Use a dataclass type to generate
• Use a TypedDict type to generate
• Use a Genson schema builder to generate
• List available models
• OpenAI-Compatible chat completions
• Stream fields as they arrive
• Route on /intent before /reply finishes
• Mid-stream human approval
• Fan out research on each /steps/N
• Reconstruct the document from raw patch ops