OpenAI Compatibility

On this page · 4 sections

ScaleMax implements the documented OpenAI-compatible endpoint subset, not every endpoint or vendor-specific behavior in the OpenAI platform. Clients that use the supported routes can connect by changing the base_url.

Use the matching OpenAI-compatible base URL

API-credit key: https://api.scalemax.pro/v1
API-token key: https://api.scalemax.pro/token/v1

These are the two OpenAI-compatible surfaces. A Claude token key can use the token /v1 route only when the client uses an OpenAI-compatible adapter, and it must select a Claude model returned by that key's catalog. Native Anthropic Messages clients use an origin with no /v1; see Claude Code or Claude Desktop.

What's compatible

OpenAI feature	Supported on ScaleMax	Notes
Chat completions (request/response shape)	✅	OpenAI-compatible shape on the documented `/chat/completions` route; model capabilities can differ.
Streaming (SSE)	✅	OpenAI-compatible SSE chunks on supported streaming routes.
Function / tool calling	Model-dependent	Use the authenticated model catalog's capability metadata; availability varies by route.
System messages	✅	Passed through to the underlying provider.
Token usage reporting	✅	`usage` in the response.
Vision / image inputs	Model-dependent	Per model: `capabilities.vision` is `true` in `GET /v1/models` and the catalog shows an "Image input" badge. Supported by Claude, GPT, Gemini, grok-4.6, Kimi, MiniMax and most Local Qwen/GLM models; send `image_url` data URLs.
Audio (TTS / STT)	—	Audio endpoints are not exposed.
Embeddings (`/v1/embeddings`)	✅	`text-embedding-3-small`, `text-embedding-3-large`, `text-embedding-ada-002`; batch input, `dimensions` and base64 encoding supported. See Models and pricing.
Assistants / Threads	—	Not exposed. Out of scope.
Fine-tuning	—	Not exposed. Use the upstream provider directly.

Differences from OpenAI

Provider selection is implicit in the model string. We don't expose a provider parameter.
Authentication uses ScaleMax keys, not OpenAI keys. They live in the same Authorization: Bearer header though.
Rate limits are per ScaleMax key, not per OpenAI organization.
Error envelope matches OpenAI's shape:

error

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Invalid API key",
    "type": "authentication_error",
    "code": "invalid_credentials"
  }
}

SDK compatibility

SDK	Status
`openai` (Python)	✅ works
`openai` (JavaScript / Node)	✅ works
`openai-go`	✅ works
`openai-compatible tools`	⚠️ partial
`langchain` (via OpenAI adapter)	✅ works
Cursor / OpenAI-compatible tools	✅ works (point at ScaleMax base URL)

For SDK-specific examples see the OpenAI SDK example.