Files & Collections

Using Collections via API

This guide walks you through managing collections programmatically using the xAI SDK and REST API.

Creating a Management Key

To use the Collections API, you need to create a Management API Key with the AddFileToCollection permission. This permission is required for uploading documents to collections.

1. Navigate to the Management Keys section in the xAI Console
2. Click on Create Management Key
3. Select the AddFileToCollection permission along with any other permissions you need
4. If you need to perform operations other than uploading documents (such as creating, updating, or deleting collections), enable the corresponding permissions in the Collections Endpoint group
5. Copy and securely store your Management API Key

[!WARNING]

Make sure to copy your Management API Key immediately after creation. You won't be able to see it again.

Creating a collection

import os
from xai_sdk import Client
client = Client(
    api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"),
    management_api_key=os.getenv("XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY"),
    timeout=3600,
)

collection = client.collections.create(
    name="SEC Filings",
)

print(collection)

const response = await fetch('https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ collection_name: 'SEC Filings' }),
});

const collection = await response.json();
console.log(collection);

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"collection_name": "SEC Filings"}'

Listing collections

# ... Create client
collections = client.collections.list()
print(collections)

const response = await fetch('https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections', {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
  },
});

const collections = await response.json();
console.log(collections);

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY"

Viewing collection configuration

# ... Create client
collection = client.collections.get("collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d")

print(collection)

const collectionId = 'collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d';
const response = await fetch(`https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/${collectionId}`, {
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
  },
});

const collection = await response.json();
console.log(collection);

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY"

Updating collection configuration

# ... Create client
collection = client.collections.update(
    "collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d",
    name="SEC Filings (New)"
)

print(collection)

const collectionId = 'collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d';
const response = await fetch(`https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/${collectionId}`, {
  method: 'PUT',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ collection_name: 'SEC Filings (New)' }),
});

const collection = await response.json();
console.log(collection);

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d \
  -X PUT \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"collection_name": "SEC Filings (New)"}'

Uploading documents

Uploading a document to a collection is a two-step process:

1. Upload the file to the xAI API
2. Add the uploaded file to your collection

# ... Create client
with open("tesla-20241231.html", "rb") as file:
    file_data = file.read()

document = client.collections.upload_document(
    collection_id="collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d",
    name="tesla-20241231.html",
    data=file_data,
)
print(document)

import fs from 'fs';

const collectionId = 'collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d';

// Step 1: Upload file
const fileData = fs.readFileSync('tesla-20241231.html');
const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('file', new Blob([fileData], { type: 'text/html' }), 'tesla-20241231.html');
formData.append('purpose', 'assistants');
const uploadResponse = await fetch('https://api.x.ai/v1/files', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_API_KEY}` },
  body: formData,
});

const { id: fileId } = await uploadResponse.json();

// Step 2: Add to collection
await fetch(`https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/${collectionId}/documents/${fileId}`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}` },
});

# Step 1: Upload file
curl https://api.x.ai/v1/files \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -F [email protected]

# Step 2: Add file to collection (use file_id from step 1)
curl -X POST https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/$COLLECTION_ID/documents/$FILE_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY"

Uploading with metadata fields

If your collection has metadata fields defined (the collection must have these fields set in field_definitions when created or updated - see the linked metadata page for details), include them using the fields parameter:

# ... Create client
with open("paper.pdf", "rb") as file:
    file_data = file.read()

document = client.collections.upload_document(
    collection_id="collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d",
    name="paper.pdf",
    data=file_data,
    fields={
        "author": "Sandra Kim",
        "year": "2024",
        "title": "Q3 Revenue Analysis"
    },
)
print(document)

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d/documents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY" \
  -F "name=paper.pdf" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "content_type=application/pdf" \
  -F 'fields={"author": "Sandra Kim", "year": "2024", "title": "Q3 Revenue Analysis"}'

Searching documents

You can also search documents using the Responses API with the file_search tool. See the Collections Search Tool guide for more details.

# ... Create client
response = client.collections.search(
    query="What were the key revenue drivers based on the SEC filings?",
    collection_ids=["collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d"],
)
print(response)

const response = await fetch('https://api.x.ai/v1/documents/search', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_API_KEY}`,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    query: 'What were the key revenue drivers based on the SEC filings?',
    source: {
      collection_ids: ['collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d'],
    },
  }),
});

const results = await response.json();
console.log(results);

curl https://api.x.ai/v1/documents/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "query": "What were the key revenue drivers based on the SEC filings?",
    "source": {
      "collection_ids": ["collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d"]
    }
  }'

Search modes

There are three search methods available:

• Keyword search
• Semantic search
• Hybrid search (combines both keyword and semantic methods)

By default, the system uses hybrid search, which generally delivers the best and most comprehensive results.

The hybrid approach balances precision and recall, making it the recommended default for the majority of queries.

An example to set hybrid mode:

curl https://api.x.ai/v1/documents/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
      "query": "What were the key revenue drivers based on the SEC filings?",
      "source": {
          "collection_ids": [
              "collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d"
          ]
      },
      "retrieval_mode": {"type": "hybrid"}
}'

You can set "retrieval_mode": {"type": "keyword"} for keyword search and "retrieval_mode": {"type": "semantic"} for semantic search.

Deleting a document

# ... Create client

client.collections.remove_document(
    collection_id="collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d",
    file_id="file_55a709d4-8edc-4f83-84d9-9f04fe49f832",
)

const collectionId = 'collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d';
const fileId = 'file_55a709d4-8edc-4f83-84d9-9f04fe49f832';

await fetch(`https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/${collectionId}/documents/${fileId}`, {
  method: 'DELETE',
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}` },
});

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d/documents/file_55a709d4-8edc-4f83-84d9-9f04fe49f832 \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY"

Deleting a collection

# ... Create client

client.collections.delete(collection_id="collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d")

const collectionId = 'collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d';

await fetch(`https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/${collectionId}`, {
  method: 'DELETE',
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}` },
});

curl https://management-api.x.ai/v1/collections/collection_dbc087b1-6c99-493d-86c6-b401fee34a9d \
  -X DELETE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_MANAGEMENT_API_KEY"

Next Steps