a4f 0.1.0

Official Python SDK for A4F - Unified AI Gateway for chat, images, audio, and embeddings

A4F Python SDK

The official Python SDK for A4F — your unified AI gateway to seamlessly access hundreds of AI models across providers through a single, powerful API.

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Table of Contents

• Installation
• Quick Start
• Authentication
• Core Features
  • Chat Completions
  • Image Generation
  • Audio Processing
  • Text Embeddings
• Advanced Configuration
• Error Handling
• Production Considerations
• API Reference
• Support & Resources

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🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+ required
• pip package manager

Install via pip

pip install a4f

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🔄 Quick Start

1. Get Your API Key

Sign up at A4F.co and obtain your API key from the dashboard.

2. Initialize the Client

from a4f import A4F

# Initialize with API key
client = A4F(api_key="your_api_key_here")

3. Make Your First Request

response = client.chat.create(
    model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful AI assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing in simple terms."}
    ],
    max_tokens=500,
    temperature=0.7
)

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

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🔑 Authentication

Environment Variables (Recommended)

export A4F_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

from a4f import A4F

# Automatically uses A4F_API_KEY environment variable
client = A4F()

Direct API Key

from a4f import A4F

client = A4F(api_key="your_api_key_here")

Configuration File

import os
from a4f import A4F

# Load from config file
api_key = os.getenv("A4F_API_KEY")
client = A4F(api_key=api_key)

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🌟 Core Features

💬 Chat Completions

Basic Chat

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "What is machine learning?"}
    ],
    max_tokens=150,
    temperature=0.5
)

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

Streaming Responses

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Count from 1 to 10 slowly"}
    ],
    stream=True,
    max_tokens=100
)

print("Streaming response:")
for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.has_content:
        print(chunk.content, end="", flush=True)
print("\n")

Advanced Chat with System Prompts

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "system", 
            "content": "You are an expert data scientist. Provide detailed, technical explanations."
        },
        {
            "role": "user", 
            "content": "Explain the difference between supervised and unsupervised learning."
        }
    ],
    max_tokens=800,
    temperature=0.3,
    top_p=0.9
)

🖼️ Image Generation

Text-to-Image

image_response = client.images.generate(
    model="provider-4/imagen-4",
    prompt="A serene mountain landscape at sunset with a crystal clear lake reflecting the sky",
    size="1024x1024",
    quality="standard",
    n=1
)

# Save the image
image_url = image_response.data[0].url
print(f"Generated image: {image_url}")

Image Editing

with open("original_image.jpg", "rb") as image_file:
    edited_image = client.images.edit(
        model="provider-3/flux-kontext-pro",
        image=image_file,
        prompt="Convert the cartoon characters to photorealistic people",
        size="1024x1024"
    )
    
print(f"Edited image: {edited_image.data[0].url}")

🎙️ Audio Processing

Speech-to-Text (Transcription)

# Transcribe audio file
with open("meeting_recording.mp3", "rb") as audio_file:
    transcription = client.audio.transcriptions.create(
        file=audio_file,
        model="provider-3/whisper-1"
    )
    
print(f"Transcription: {transcription}")

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

speech_response = client.audio.speech.create(
    input="Hello! This is a demonstration of high-quality text-to-speech conversion using the A4F SDK.",
    model="provider-3/gemini-2.5-flash-preview-tts",
    voice="Orus",
    response_format="mp3",
    speed=1.0
)

# Save audio to file
speech_response.write_to_file("generated_speech.mp3")
print("Speech saved to generated_speech.mp3")

🔎 Text Embeddings

Single Text Embedding

embedding_response = client.embeddings.create(
    model="provider-6/qwen3-embedding-4b",
    input="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
)

vector = embedding_response.data[0].embedding
print(f"Embedding dimension: {len(vector)}")

Batch Embeddings

texts = [
    "Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence.",
    "Natural language processing enables computers to understand human language.",
    "Computer vision allows machines to interpret visual information."
]

embeddings = client.embeddings.create(
    model="provider-6/qwen3-embedding-4b",
    input=texts
)

for i, embedding_obj in enumerate(embeddings.data):
    print(f"Text {i+1} embedding dimension: {len(embedding_obj.embedding)}")

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⚙️ Advanced Configuration

Client Configuration

from a4f import A4F
import logging

# Configure comprehensive client settings
client = A4F(
    api_key="your_api_key_here",
    timeout=60  # Request timeout in seconds
)

Request-Level Configuration

# Per-request configuration
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
    timeout=30,           # Override default timeout
)

Model Parameters

# Comprehensive parameter configuration
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a creative story."}],
    max_tokens=1000,
    temperature=0.8,      # Creativity level (0.0 - 2.0)
    top_p=0.9           # Nucleus sampling
)

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❌ Error Handling

Error Handling

from a4f import A4F

client = A4F(api_key="your_api_key_here")

try:
    response = client.chat.create(
        model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
    )
    print(response.choices[0].message.content)
    
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Unexpected error: {e}")

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🏭 Production Considerations

Environment Configuration

import os
from a4f import A4F

class A4FConfig:
    def __init__(self):
        self.api_key = os.getenv("A4F_API_KEY")
        self.timeout = int(os.getenv("A4F_TIMEOUT", "60"))
        self.max_retries = int(os.getenv("A4F_MAX_RETRIES", "3"))
        
    def create_client(self):
        return A4F(
            api_key=self.api_key,
            timeout=self.timeout,
            max_retries=self.max_retries
        )

# Usage
config = A4FConfig()
client = config.create_client()

Logging and Monitoring

import logging
from a4f import A4F

# Configure logging
logging.basicConfig(
    level=logging.INFO,
    format='%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
)

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

def monitored_chat_request(client, messages, model="provider-3/gpt-5-nano"):
    try:
        logger.info(f"Making chat request with model: {model}")
        
        response = client.chat.completions.create(
            model=model,
            messages=messages
        )
        
        logger.info(f"Request successful. Tokens used: {response.usage.total_tokens}")
        return response
        
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Request failed: {str(e)}")
        raise

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📚 API Reference

Chat Completions

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
model	str	Required	Model identifier (e.g., "provider-3/gpt-5-nano")
messages	List[Dict]	Required	Conversation messages
max_tokens	int	None	Maximum tokens to generate
temperature	float	1.0	Sampling temperature (0.0-2.0)
top_p	float	1.0	Nucleus sampling parameter
stream	bool	False	Enable streaming responses

Image Generation

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
prompt	str	Required	Text description of the image
model	str	Required	Image model identifier
size	str	"1024x1024"	Image dimensions
quality	str	"standard"	Image quality ("standard" or "hd")
n	int	1	Number of images to generate

Audio Processing

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
file	BinaryIO	Required	Audio file to process
model	str	Required	Audio model identifier

Embeddings

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
input	Union[str, List[str]]	Required	Text(s) to embed
model	str	Required	Embedding model identifier

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🌐 What is A4F?

A4F.co is a revolutionary AI gateway that simplifies interaction with multiple AI providers. Instead of integrating with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others separately, A4F provides one consistent API to access them all, making development faster, cheaper, and more reliable.

Key Benefits

Feature	Description	Benefits
🌐 Unified API	Consistent interface for all models	Reduced complexity, faster development
💰 Free Tier	Start building with no upfront costs	Risk-free experimentation
⚡ High Availability	Built-in failover & load balancing	99.9% uptime guarantee
💸 Cost Optimization	Smart routing & price-performance tuning	Up to 40% cost savings
🔒 Privacy Controls	Granular provider selection	Enterprise-grade security
🚀 Production-Ready	Enterprise scalability and support	Mission-critical reliability

Model Coverage

• Text Generation: GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama, Qwen, and more
• Image Generation: DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, Imagen
• Audio Processing: Whisper, Google Cloud TTS
• Embeddings: OpenAI, Cohere, Sentence Transformers
• Specialized Models: Code generation, translation, summarization

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📧 Support & Resources

Documentation & Guides

• 📘 Official Documentation
• 🚀 Changelog
• 🎯 Function Calling
• 🔧 Errors

Community

• 💬 Telegram Community
• 🎮 Discord Community

Developer Resources

• 🔗 API Status
• 📊 Usage Dashboard
• 🧪 API Testing

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

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Built with ❤️ by the A4F Team — Your Unified AI Gateway

Ready to get started? Sign up for free and get your API key today!