# OpenAI Responses API

17 Hacker News commenters recommended OpenAI Responses API and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Developers recommend it for agents that keep reasoning server side and beat Chat Completions; the main caveat is lock-in to OpenAI.

## Why people recommend it

- Better agent behavior and performance (4 comments): "we've consistently seen small, but statistically significant and reproducible improvements in intelligence with Responses API vs Completions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120329)) "With the responses API, the agent actually goes and does the things it's supposed to do." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063422)) "works very well and feels like a leap forward in terms of performance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47865825))
- Better than Chat Completions (4 comments): "we've consistently seen small, but statistically significant and reproducible improvements in intelligence with Responses API vs Completions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49120329)) "the Responses API that OpenAI architected is superior to Claude's Messages API" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999417)) "I generally prefer the new responses API (minus the closed/hidden stuff)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49121291))
- Simple, easy to script workflows (4 comments): "this is refreshing DX compared to iterating all messages like we did back in '24" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342222)) "it works wonders to just script entire persistent workflows with a simple SDK" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49650561)) "easiest is OpenAI Responses API with OpenAI function calling syntax" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47880890))

## What people warn about

- Ties users to OpenAI (3 comments): "OAI has been subtly pushing users away from chat completion and toward the endpoints that are possible to obfuscate" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48905923)) "Responses integration will lock you into OAI much more deeply than chat completion integration will." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906010)) "I generally prefer the new responses API (minus the closed/hidden stuff)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49121291))
- Unclear docs and internals (3 comments): "If you follow the docs, it will lead you down a lot of well-intended functionality, but most of it is thrown away in their most successful harness." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49651406)) "OpenAI has a "Responses" API which is different from their "Chat" API" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46939508)) "the lack of clarity on the Responses API inner-workings isn't great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740012))

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://developers.openai.com/api/reference/resources/responses)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "OpenAI Responses API", https://hackerapproved.com/p/openai-responses-api/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).