> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.parasail.io/parasail-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.parasail.io/parasail-docs/use-cases/chat-text-generation.md).

# Chat and Text Generation

Use Parasail to build chatbots, virtual assistants, content generators, and any application that involves conversational AI. Our API is fully OpenAI-compatible—point your existing OpenAI SDK at our base URL and start building.

## Choose your deployment model

| Need                                           | Recommended product                                                                     |
| ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Quick experimentation or low-volume production | [Serverless](/parasail-docs/products/overview.md)—pay per token, no setup               |
| Production with latency/cost control           | [Dedicated instances](/parasail-docs/products/overview-1.md)—private GPUs, auto-scaling |
| Large-scale offline processing (evals, data)   | [Batch](/parasail-docs/products/quickstart.md)—50% off, up to millions of prompts       |

## Quickstart

Make your first chat completion call in under two minutes:

```python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.parasail.io/v1",
    api_key="<PARASAIL_API_KEY>"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="parasail-deepseek-r1",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in one paragraph."}]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)
```

See the [serverless quickstart](/parasail-docs/quickstart/serverless.md) for the full guide.

## Relevant guides

* [Chat completions guide](/parasail-docs/guides/chat-completions.md)—messages, roles, system prompts, and chat templates
* [Model selection](/parasail-docs/guides/model-recommendations.md)—find the best model for your use case
* [Structured output](/parasail-docs/guides/structured-output.md)—force JSON-formatted responses
* [Tool/function calling](/parasail-docs/guides/tool-function-calling.md)—give the model tools to call

## API reference

* [Chat completions API](/parasail-docs/api-reference/chat-completions.md)
* [Parameters](/parasail-docs/api-reference/parameters.md)—temperature, top\_p, top\_k, and more
* [Responses API](/parasail-docs/products/overview/responses-api.md)—multi-turn agentic workflows with tool calling

## Available models

Browse all available serverless models:

```bash
curl https://api.parasail.io/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PARASAIL_API_KEY"
```

See also: [Model selection](/parasail-docs/guides/model-recommendations.md) and [model-specific Serverless notes](/parasail-docs/products/overview/model-specific-notes.md).