# Streaming

> Set stream to true to receive the answer as server-sent events while it's written, in OpenAI or Anthropic format, with token usage at the end.

Source: https://digitspace.ai/docs/api/streaming · Last checked: 2026-10-31

Set `"stream": true` and the answer arrives as [server-sent events](https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Web/API/Server-sent_events) while the model writes it. SDKs read the stream for you.

Python:

```python
stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="auto",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Count to five."}],
    stream=True,
)
for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices and chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content, end="")
```

TypeScript:

```ts
const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "auto",
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Count to five." }],
  stream: true,
});

for await (const chunk of stream) {
  process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content ?? "");
}
```

curl:

```bash
curl -N https://api.digitspace.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITSPACE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "model": "auto", "stream": true,
        "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Count to five." }] }'
```

## What the stream contains

On `/v1/chat/completions`, each event is a `chat.completion.chunk`, and the stream ends with `data: [DONE]`. The last chunk before it carries `usage` and an empty `choices` array. The gateway always asks the provider for usage, so this chunk arrives even if you didn't set `stream_options.include_usage`. Check that `choices` isn't empty before reading from it, as the Python example does.

On `/v1/messages`, the stream is Anthropic's event sequence; see [Anthropic Messages](/docs/api/messages#response).

## When a provider fails

Failover happens before the first byte. If the first provider errors or times out, the gateway tries the next one, and you see a normal stream from whichever answered. Once a stream has started, it can't move to another provider. If the provider breaks off mid-stream, the stream simply ends without a final `[DONE]`. Check for it, and retry if it's missing.

If your client disconnects, the gateway still reads the provider's answer to the end, and the request is billed for the tokens the provider produced.

## Timeouts

Each attempt has two minutes for the provider to finish the whole answer, stream or not. Very long answers from slow models can reach that limit; lower `max_tokens` or stream to a model with faster output.