cli/resources/files/methods/retrieve/index.md 2026-07-10 23:02 UTC to 2026-07-12 06:58 UTC

Retrieve file

$ openai files retrieve

get /files/{file_id}

Returns information about a specific file.

Parameters

• --file-id: string

  The ID of the file to use for this request.

Returns

• file_object: object { id, bytes, created_at, 6 more }

  The File object represents a document that has been uploaded to OpenAI.

  • id: string

    The file identifier, which can be referenced in the API endpoints.

  • bytes: number

    The size of the file, in bytes.

  • created_at: number

    The Unix timestamp (in seconds) for when the file was created.

  • filename: string

    The name of the file.

  • object: "file"

    The object type, which is always file.

  • purpose: "assistants" or "assistants_output" or "batch" or 5 more

    The intended purpose of the file. Supported values are assistants, assistants_output, batch, batch_output, fine-tune, fine-tune-results, vision, and user_data.

    • "assistants"

    • "assistants_output"

    • "batch"

    • "batch_output"

    • "fine-tune"

    • "fine-tune-results"

    • "vision"

    • "user_data"

  • status: "uploaded" or "processed" or "error"

    Deprecated. The current status of the file, which can be either uploaded, processed, or error.

    • "uploaded"

    • "processed"

    • "error"

  • expires_at: optional number

    The Unix timestamp (in seconds) for when the file will expire.

  • status_details: optional string

    Deprecated. For details on why a fine-tuning training file failed validation, see the error field on fine_tuning.job.

Example

openai files retrieve \
  --api-key 'My API Key' \
  --file-id file_id

Response

{
  "id": "id",
  "bytes": 0,
  "created_at": 0,
  "filename": "filename",
  "object": "file",
  "purpose": "assistants",
  "status": "uploaded",
  "expires_at": 0,
  "status_details": "status_details"
}