File Search is a hosted retrieval tool in the OpenAI API that lets applications search uploaded documents and supply relevant passages to...
Pros
- Managed ingestion, chunking, embedding, and retrieval reduce infrastructure work
- Integrates directly with OpenAI models and the Responses API
- Supports natural-language search across uploaded files
Cons
- Ties retrieval workflows closely to OpenAI's API ecosystem
- Less control over indexing and ranking than self-managed search systems
- Usage and storage fees can grow with large document collections
Usage-based; storage and tool-call fees apply