/API Quickstart
For Developers

API Quickstart

Run your first OpenHelm task over the REST API in one call.

OpenHelm gives AI agents and your own backend a single place to run hard, multi-step jobs — work that takes minutes, hours, or runs on a schedule. Two front doors share one engine:

  • REST API (/v1) — call it server-to-server from your product.
  • MCP servers — connect a remote URL from ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor (see MCP servers).

Both run work in isolated cloud sandboxes and return the same structured, evidence-backed result.

1. Get a key

Create a Bearer key (oh_live_…) under Settings → API & Webhooks in your OpenHelm account. The key is shown once.

2. Run a task in one call

curl https://api.openhelm.ai/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer oh_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "Get the pricing tiers from stripe.com",
    "output_schema": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": { "tiers": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } } }
    }
  }'
The base URL shown in the live API reference is the source of truth — it is generated from the deployed OpenAPI spec.

The response is 202 Accepted with a task_id, a poll_url, and a billing cost estimate:

{
  "task_id": "run_2x9f4c...",
  "poll_url": "https://api.openhelm.ai/v1/runs/run_2x9f4c...",
  "billing": { "model": "sonnet", "estimated_cost_usd": { "low": 0.05, "high": 0.3 } }
}

3. Collect the result

Poll GET /v1/runs/{id} until status is terminal, or supply a callback_url to get a webhook instead (see Long-running & recurring jobs). The completed envelope carries your structured result, evidence, confidence, and usage.cost_usd.

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