How to list your chat messages

The messages parameter defines your entire conversation so far. This is how you “teach” the model what has happened in the chat.

Each message is an object with two fields:

Key	Value
`role`	`"system"`, `"user"`, or `"assistant"`
`content`	The message text (string)

Why is this important?

The model uses the conversation history to generate context-aware replies.
The order of the messages matters, the model reads them top to bottom.
Including previous assistant responses helps the model maintain coherence and memory.

Roles explained:

system (Optional, but Recommended)
Sets initial behavior, tone, or instructions for the assistant.
Example: "You are a helpful assistant."
user (Required)
Represents questions, requests, or inputs from the user.
Example: "Tell me about Indian classical music."
assistant (Optional, only for context in multi-turn)
Contains previous replies from the model, which help it stay consistent in tone and content.
Example: "Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions..."

Example: Listing messages in a conversation

First, install the SDK:

pip install -Uqq sarvamai

Then use the following Python code:

from sarvamai import SarvamAI
# Initialize the SarvamAI client with your API key
client = SarvamAI(api_subscription_key="YOUR_SARVAM_API_KEY")
# Example 1: Default example - single "user" message which is required (no prior context)
response = client.chat.completions(
    model="sarvam-105b",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Hey, what is the capital of India?"}
    ],
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

# Example 2: Multi-turn example: maintaining conversation context
from sarvamai import SarvamAI
client = SarvamAI(api_subscription_key="YOUR_SARVAM_API_KEY")
response = client.chat.completions(
    model="sarvam-105b",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Tell me about Indian classical music."},
        {"role": "assistant", "content": "Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world, with roots in ancient texts like the Natya Shastra."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "What are the two main styles?"}
    ],
)
# Receive assistant's reply as output
print(response.choices[0].message.content)