> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.kontinent.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.kontinent.ai/quickstart.md).

# Quickstart

Make your first request in under a minute.

Kontinent is a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint in front of EU-resident model providers (Mistral, Scaleway, OVHcloud, IONOS, Azure EU Data Zone), with prepaid credits, per-key rate limits, and zero prompt retention by design.

If you already talk to OpenAI, there is nothing new to learn. You change two things: the base URL and the API key. Messages, tools, streaming, and the response shape all stay exactly as you wrote them.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Estimated time: 1 minute.** All you need is a `sk-kt-` key and a model id.
{% endhint %}

## Steps

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

#### Set your base URL and key

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="TypeScript" %}

```typescript
import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: "https://api.kontinent.ai/v1",
  apiKey: process.env.KONTINENT_API_KEY, // sk-kt-...
});
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python" %}

```python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.kontinent.ai/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["KONTINENT_API_KEY"],
)
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### Send a chat completion

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="TypeScript" %}

```typescript
const res = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "mistral/mistral-large-latest",
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hallo!" }],
});
console.log(res.choices[0].message.content);
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python" %}

```python
res = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="mistral/mistral-large-latest",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hallo!"}],
)
print(res.choices[0].message.content)
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="curl" %}

```bash
curl https://api.kontinent.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KONTINENT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"mistral/mistral-large-latest",
       "messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hallo!"}]}'
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### Stream the response

Set `stream: true` to receive Server-Sent Events as the model generates.

```typescript
const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "mistral/mistral-small-latest",
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Write a haiku about Europe." }],
  stream: true,
});

for await (const chunk of stream) {
  process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content ?? "");
}
```

See [Streaming](/features/streaming.md) for the SSE wire format and timeout behavior.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### Pick the right model

Model ids are in `provider/model` form, e.g. `mistral/mistral-large-latest`. Discover what your organization can use, with EUR pricing and sovereignty tier, in one call:

```bash
curl https://api.kontinent.ai/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KONTINENT_API_KEY"
```

{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Why Kontinent

<table data-card-size="large" data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><h4><i class="fa-earth-europe" style="color:$primary;">:earth-europe:</i></h4></td><td><h4>EU data residency</h4></td><td>Requests are served by EU-resident providers. Each model carries a <code>sovereignty</code> tier so you can require an EU-owned provider.</td><td><a href="/models-and-routing/models.md">Models &amp; sovereignty</a></td></tr><tr><td><h4><i class="fa-shield-halved" style="color:$primary;">:shield-halved:</i></h4></td><td><h4>Zero retention</h4></td><td>Prompt and completion bodies are never persisted or logged. Only token counts, latency, status, model, and cost.</td><td><a href="/privacy/privacy.md">Privacy &amp; retention</a></td></tr><tr><td><h4><i class="fa-plug" style="color:$primary;">:plug:</i></h4></td><td><h4>Drop-in compatible</h4></td><td>OpenAI-compatible on purpose. Any OpenAI SDK works by pointing <code>baseURL</code> at Kontinent.</td><td><a href="/features/unified-api.md">One API for every model</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Next steps

{% content-ref url="/pages/yhwDdyvtl1Lk1g02VT0J" %}
[Principles](/overview/principles.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/i153gepDW64lHSqf4PxJ" %}
[Authentication](/overview/authentication.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/3TFSrUOiA2KRCa5V6cHt" %}
[Models & sovereignty](/models-and-routing/models.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/e4XLAToYQziKWGuYMiZu" %}
[Handling errors](/features/errors.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


---

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Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.kontinent.ai/quickstart.md?ask=<question>&goal=<endgoal>
```

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