Guides

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.

Navigate to the Management Keys section in the xAI Console
Click on Create Management Key
Select the AddFileToCollection permission along with any other permissions you need
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
Copy and securely store your Management API Key

Create Management Key with AddFileToCollection permission

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)

Listing collections

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

Viewing collection configuration

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

print(collection)

Updating collection configuration

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

print(collection)

Uploading documents

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

Upload the file to the xAI API
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,
    content_type="text/html",
)
print(document)

Uploading with metadata fields

If your collection has metadata fields defined, 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,
    content_type="application/pdf",
    fields={
        "author": "Sandra Kim",
        "year": "2024",
        "title": "Q3 Revenue Analysis"
    },
)
print(document)

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)

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.

Mode	Description	Best for	Drawbacks
Keyword	Searches for exact matches of specified words, phrases, or numbers	Precise terms (e.g., account numbers, dates, specific financial figures)	May miss contextually relevant content
Semantic	Understands meaning and context to find conceptually related content	Discovering general ideas, topics, or intent even when exact words differ	Less precise for specific terms
Hybrid	Combines keyword and semantic search for broader and more accurate results	Most real-world use cases	Slightly higher latency

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

An example to set hybrid mode:

Bash

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",
)

Deleting a collection

# ... Create client

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

Next Steps

Metadata Fields → - Learn how to attach structured attributes to documents for filtering and contextual embeddings