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OpenAI / ChatGPT

Official Docs: platform.openai.com/docs Category: AI Model

OpenAI's GPT models power GitHub Copilot and many other AI coding tools.

Used By

OpenAI models power GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Codex CLI, and Aider.

Model Variants

Model Best For Context Window
GPT-4 Turbo Complex coding tasks 128K tokens
GPT-4o Balanced performance 128K tokens
GPT-4o Mini Cost-effective tasks 128K tokens
o1 Complex reasoning Varies

API Setup

Get an API Key

  1. Create an account at platform.openai.com
  2. Navigate to API Keys
  3. Create a new key
  4. Set up billing

Set Environment Variable

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

Or add to your shell profile:

echo 'export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."' >> ~/.zshrc

Tips & Tricks

Community Tips

This section collects tips from real users. Contribute your tips!

Model selection:

  • GPT-4 Turbo: Best for complex coding tasks
  • GPT-4o: Good balance of speed and capability
  • GPT-4o Mini: Cost-effective for simpler tasks
  • o1: Use for problems requiring deep reasoning

Prompting tips:

  • Be specific about the programming language and framework
  • Provide examples of desired output format
  • Use system prompts to set coding style preferences

Common Issues

"Rate limited"

  • Check your tier and limits at platform.openai.com
  • Implement exponential backoff
  • Consider upgrading your tier

"Unexpected behavior"

  • GPT models can be more creative/variable than Claude
  • Be more explicit in your instructions
  • Consider using a system prompt for consistency

Community Resources

Help Improve This Page

Know a tip that's not listed? Found a helpful video tutorial? Contribute to this page.