Led by Brian Klass This session explores how to integrate OpenAI’s powerful generative AI into your applications using CFML or BoxLang. Rather than just basic chat completions, we’ll focus on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to unlock value from your existing documents and data. You'll learn practical strategies for managing generative AI’s unpredictability and see how CFML’s flexibility makes it an ideal partner for working with AI APIs.

1. Integrating the OpenAI API
in Your ColdFusion Applications
Brian Klaas
@brian_klaas
brianklaas.net

2. H E L LO G P T S !

3. H E L LO G P T S !
https://venturebeat.com/ai/a-chevy-for-1-car-dealer-chatbots-show-perils-of-ai-for-customer-service/

4. H E L LO G P T S !
https://x.com/chrisjbakke/status/1736533308849443121?s=61

5. H E L LO G P T S !
Now?Soon?Never?

6. H E L LO G P T S !

7. H E L LO G P T S !
GPT-4o Prompt: “Create an image of a large pile of cash being set on
fi
re, and the software developer setting the cash on
fi
re is very, very, very happy about it.”

8. H E L LO G P T S !
GPT-4o Prompt: “Create an image of three business people abusing a sweet, innocent generative AI model.”

9. !
H E L LO G P T S !
Don't allow free-range access
to large language models.

10. H E L LO G P T S !
Use an API instead.

11. H E L LO G P T S !

12. The OpenAI API

13. T H E O P E N A I A P I
Image generation
Text to speech
Speech to text
File search (RAG)
Web search
Computer use
Moderations
Realtime API
Agents API
Async Batch API
Evaluations
Structured outputs from
JSON schema
Fine tuning
Embeddings generation
Model distillation

14. T H E O P E N A I A P I
platform.openai.com

15. T H E O P E N A I A P I
Completions

16. T H E O P E N A I A P I
{
"model": "gpt-4o-mini",
"messages": [
{
"role": "system",
"content": "You are a helpful assistant."
},
{
"role": "user",
"content": "Who won the world series in 2020?"
},
}
Chat Completions

17. T H E O P E N A I A P I
Chat Completions
Legacy Completions Modern Completions
Access to GPT 3.5 and lower only Access to latest models
Can use
fi
le attachments Cannot use
fi
le attachments

18. T H E O P E N A I A P I
Assistants

19. Responses

20. R E S P O N S E S A P I
Chat Completions API Responses API
Text generation ✓ ✓
Audio ✓ Soon
Vision ✓ ✓
Structured Outputs ✓ ✓
Function calling ✓ ✓
Web search ✓ ✓
File search X ✓
Computer use X ✓
Code Interpreter X Soon

21. R E S P O N S E S A P I
Augments a basic chat completion with:
Code Interpreter
Function Calling
File Search (RAG)

22. R E S P O N S E S A P I
Allow for more complex processes
Responses > Completions

23. R E S P O N S E S A P I
Have conversations, just like in ChatGPT
Responses > Completions

24. R E S P O N S E S A P I
Persistent conversation management
Responses > Completions

25. A S S I S TA N T S
Responses are the future of OpenAI’s API offerings
Responses > Completions

26. Retrieval Augmented Generation

27. R E T R I E VA L A U G M E N T E D G E N E R AT I O N
Got documents or data?
You’re going to need some RAG.

28. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W

29. R E T R I E VA L A U G M E N T E D G E N E R AT I O N
How does RAG work?

30. R E T R I E VA L A U G M E N T E D G E N E R AT I O N
Prompt
LLM
Query
Processor
Similarity
Search
Augmented
Prompt
Response
External
Data
Embeddings Vector
Database
Handled
automatically
by OpenAI

31. !
R E T R I E VA L A U G M E N T E D G E N E R AT I O N
No support for parsing images in documents.

32. The API Workflow

33. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Steps in the Responses + RAG Work
fl
ow
1 Upload
fi
les
Create vector store
Add
fi
les to vector store
Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
Get the generated content from the response
2
3
4
5

34. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
!
Things will go wrong

35. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Design for resilience.

36. P R O M P T T E S T I N G I N T H E P L AY G R O U N D
A Short Detour into
Prompt Testing
and the Playground

37. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D

38. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D

39. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D

40. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D

41. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D

42. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D

43. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D
The key to building good generative AI tools:
The quality of your prompt.

44. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D
Iterate early and often.

45. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D
Seek domain expert feedback.

46. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D
Use Evaluations to test model changes.

47. P R O M P T T E S T I N G A N D T H E P L AY G R O U N D
Test your prompts in the Playground.
Lots and lots and LOTS of tests.

48. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Steps in the Responses + RAG Work
fl
ow
1 Upload
fi
les
Create vector store
Add
fi
les to vector store
Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
Get the generated content from the response
2
3
4
5

49. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Two prerequisites

50. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Two Prerequisites
You need a service account.
(One service account per project is safer.)

51. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Two Prerequisites
You need headers.
cfhttpparam(name="Authorization", type="header", value=“Bearer YOUR TOKEN”);

52. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
1 Upload
fi
les
POST https://api.openai.com/v1/
fi
les

53. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
?

54. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
openAI-coldfusion-utils
https://github.com/brianklaas/openAI-coldfusion-utils

55. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
1 Upload
fi
les
cfhttp(method=“POST”, charset="utf-8", url=“https://api.openai.com/v1/
fi
les", result=“result")
cfhttpparam(name="Authorization", type="header", value=“Bearer YOUR TOKEN”);
cfhttpparam(name="purpose", type="form
fi
eld", value="assistants");
cfhttpparam(type="
fi
le",
fi
le=“PATH TO FILE”, name=“
fi
le");
}

56. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
1 Upload
fi
les
uploadFile(string pathToFile)
openAI-coldfusion-utils

57. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
1 Upload
fi
les
{
"id": "
fi
le-abc123",
"object": "
fi
le",
"bytes": 120000,
"created_at": 1677610602,
"
fi
lename": “myDocument.pdf"
}

58. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
!
Make sure you stay within the context window

59. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
2 Create vector store
POST https://api.openai.com/v1/vector_stores

60. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
External
Data
Embeddings Vector
Database
Vector Stores
OpenAI Vector Store

61. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
2 Create vector store
cfhttp(method=“POST”, charset="utf-8", url=“https://api.openai.com/v1/vector_store”, result=“result")
cfhttpparam(name="Authorization", type="header", value=“Bearer YOUR TOKEN”);
cfhttpparam(name="content-type", type="header", value="application/json");
cfhttpparam(type="body", value=“#requestBodyAsJSON#");
}

62. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
2 Create vector store
createVectorStore()
openAI-coldfusion-utils

63. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
2 Create vector store
{
"id": "vs_abc123",
"object": "vector_store",
"created_at": 1699061776,
"name": "Support FAQ",
"bytes": 139920,
"
fi
le_counts": {
"in_progress": 0,
"completed": 3,
"failed": 0,
"cancelled": 0,
"total": 3
}
}

64. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
3 Add
fi
les to vector store
POST https://api.openai.com/v1/{vector_store_id}/
fi
les

65. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
3 Add
fi
les to vector store
for (
fi
leID in
fi
lesArray) {
addFileToVectorStore(
fi
leID, vectorStoreID);
}
openAI-coldfusion-utils

66. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
3 Add
fi
les to vector store
{
"id": "
fi
le-abc123",
"object": "vector_store.
fi
le",
"created_at": 1699061776,
"usage_bytes": 1234,
"vector_store_id": "vs_abcd",
"status": "completed",
"last_error": null
}

67. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
How do you know if it’s done?

68. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
hasFileBeenProcessed(
fi
leID, vectorStoreID)
openAI-coldfusion-utils
Checking for Completion
GET https://api.openai.com/v1/vector_stores/{vector_store_id}/
fi
les/{
fi
le_id}

69. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
while() loop
Strategies for Waiting

70. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Database rows + scheduled task
Strategies for Waiting

71. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Use SQS
Strategies for Waiting

72. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Why SQS
SQS Provides:
Message ordering
Fault-tolerant resilience
Easy retries in case of API failure

73. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Why SQS
You’ll need SQS queues for:
Checking
fi
le processing completion
Checking output generation completion

74. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Why SQS
You’ll need SQS queues for:
Uploading
fi
les
Checking
fi
le processing completion
Checking output generation completion
File and vector store cleanup

75. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
4 Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
POST https://api.openai.com/v1/responses

76. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
4 Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
{
“model": “gpt-4.1”,
"tools": [ {
"type": "
fi
le_search",
"vector_store_ids": ["#thisVectorStoreID#"]
} ],
"instructions": "#promptInstructions#",
"input": "#promptInput#"
};

77. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
4 Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
{
“model": “gpt-4.1”,
"tools": [ {
"type": "
fi
le_search",
"vector_store_ids": ["#thisVectorStoreID#"]
} ],
"instructions": "#promptInstructions#",
"input": "#promptInput#"
};

78. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
4 Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
{
“model": “gpt-4.1”,
"tools": [ {
"type": "
fi
le_search",
"vector_store_ids": ["#thisVectorStoreID#"]
} ],
"instructions": "#promptInstructions#",
"input": "#promptInput#"
};

79. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Conversing with GPT4.1
Prompt Instructions + Input = “Prompt”

80. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Conversing with GPT4.1
Main prompt → instructions
Custom content/context → input

81. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Conversing with GPT4.1
include() instructions

82. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Conversing with GPT4.1
Instructions Input
Files in
Vector Store
LLM

83. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
4* Check for completion
Content generation can take a while

84. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Fully asynchronous work
fl
ow
Handling Waiting for Completion

85. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Progress bars
Handling Waiting for Completion

86. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Handling Waiting for Completion

87. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Streaming responses
Handling Waiting for Completion

88. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
5 Get the generated content from the response
cfhttp requests are synchronous

89. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
5 Get the generated content from the response
GET https://api.openai.com/v1/responses/{response_id}

90. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
5 Get the generated content from the response
In the cfhttp call response:
deserializeJSON(response.
fi
leContent).callResult.output

91. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
5 Get the generated content from the response
Check that the response is useful!

92. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Steps in the Responses + RAG Work
fl
ow
1 Upload
fi
les
Create vector store
Add
fi
les to vector store
Call the Responses API, referencing the vector store
Get the generated content from the response
2
3
4
5

93. T H E A P I W O R K F LO W
Don’t forget to clean up the
fi
les!

94. Painful Lessons

95. PA I N F U L L E S S O N S
Re
fi
ne your prompt in the Playground
before building anything.

96. PA I N F U L L E S S O N S
Don't ask for references.

97. PA I N F U L L E S S O N S
Really structured output?
Use Structured Outputs (JSON Schema).

98. PA I N F U L L E S S O N S
Requests fail.
Build for retries.

99. PA I N F U L L E S S O N S
Multi-step prompts?
Write options into your app.

100. PA I N F U L L E S S O N S
Friends don’t let friends
build open-ended chatbots.

101. Go Do!

102. brian.klaas@gmail.com
brianklaas.net
CFML Slack
https://github.com/brianklaas/openAI-coldfusion-utils