HTTP Streaming with Server-Sent Events (SSE)
Praxis AI offers a pure HTTP streaming endpoint using Server-Sent Events (SSE). This approach is ideal for:- Server-side applications (Node.js, Python, Go, etc.)
- Automation, agents, and orchestration tools
- Environments where WebSockets are restricted
- Simpler integrations without persistent socket connections
- SDK and CLI tool development
The SSE streaming endpoint uses the same JWT authentication as other REST endpoints. No Socket.IO connection is required.
Endpoint
Request Headers
Request Body
cURL Example
Response Headers
Response Format
The endpoint returnstext/event-stream; charset=utf-8 content type with SSE-formatted JSON chunks. Each line is prefixed with data: followed by a JSON object and two newlines.
Example SSE Response:
The
prompt field on stream events is cumulative (full response up to this point); the delta field contains only the new characters since the last event. Use delta for incremental UI rendering and prompt for the current full text.thinking events are gated by an institution-level Display Thinking Details toggle (default on). When disabled, no thinking events fire and the underlying History record stores no thinking text. Personal users (no institution) always receive thinking events. Providers that do not expose thinking (Mistral) simply emit no thinking events. OpenAI emits summary-only thinking — OpenAI hides raw chain-of-thought by policy.Thinking is collected per tool round — each round of model output before/after a tool call gets its own entry, keyed by
id (round-0, round-1, …). Intermediate frames within a round are append-only deltas; the round closes with a single done: true frame carrying the authoritative full text and (for Anthropic / Bedrock) a signature used for provider-side multi-step continuation.Node.js Client Example
Using Fetch API (Browser/Node.js 18+)
Cancelling an HTTP Stream
To cancel an in-flight HTTP stream request, you can abort the fetch request:Comparing Socket.IO vs HTTP SSE
Streaming with Socket.IO
Socket.IO is an alternative to the HTTP SSE method above. Prefer it when you need a persistent, bidirectional real-time connection — for example, an interactive browser client. For automation, SDKs, CLIs, and most server-side integrations, use SSE instead.
1 Install the Socket.IO Client
2 Connect and register your user
3 Listen for streaming and diagnostic events
payload received from the stream
Note that the final response may differ from the
prompt returned while streaming.Event types
AllRECEIVE_STREAM payloads carry a type field. Branch on it to handle each kind:
THINKING — model reasoning stream
THINKING events surface the model’s internal reasoning text (a.k.a. chain-of-thought / “thinking” mode) for the providers that expose it: Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Gemini, OpenAI (summary only — OpenAI hides raw chain-of-thought by policy), and xAI. Mistral does not expose thinking at all and emits no THINKING events.
Thinking is collected per tool round — each round of model output before/after a tool call gets its own entry, keyed by id of the form round-0, round-1, etc. Frames within a round are append-only deltas; the round closes with a single done: true frame carrying the authoritative full text and (for Anthropic / Bedrock) a signature for provider-side continuation.
The
THINKING stream is gated by an institution-level Display Thinking Details toggle (default on). When the institution disables the toggle, no THINKING events fire and the underlying History record stores no thinking text. Personal users (no institution) always receive thinking events.4 Include socketId in your Q&A API requests
The server requires the active Socket.IO session ID to stream chunks to your client. IncludesocketId in requestArgs.
5 Manage reconnections
When the QANDA request response includes"streamingFailed": true, it indicates that the middleware has lost the backend Socket ID mapping (user email to client socket ID), preventing it from communicating response chunks back to the client. This typically occurs when multiple browser windows or tabs are open for the same user email, causing them to compete for the same backend session and overwriting each other’s socket registrations. To resolve this issue, you can re-establish the socket connection to re-register the most current client handle and restore proper communication between the middleware and the active client session.
6 Abort requests
To abort a request while executing, emit acancel_request event:
The
cancel_request message signals the controller API to interrupt the ongoing communication and attempt a graceful termination of the conversation. While the controller works to terminate resources cleanly, there may be a slight delay before the process completes. You will only be charged for any partial response generated up to the point of cancellation.7 Stop streaming the current request
To stop streaming the current response without aborting the request itself, emit acancel_streaming event:
cancel_streaming applies only to the current response stream and is cleared automatically before the next interaction.Related
- API Reference Introduction — API structure, authentication, and getting started
- JavaScript SDK — a higher-level client that handles streaming for you