[BUG] openAI stream() method does not enforce "stream=True" in the upstream API call

[thinkinginmath]

Checks

• I have updated to the lastest minor and patch version of Strands
• I have checked the documentation and this is not expected behavior
• I have searched ./issues and there are no duplicates of my issue

Strands Version

v0.1.7

Python Version

3.11

Operating System

macos 12

Installation Method

pip

Steps to Reproduce

from source code review,

sdk-python/src/strands/models/openai.py

Line 80 in 7c5f7a7

def stream(self, request: dict[str, Any]) -> Iterable[dict[str, Any]]:

@OverRide
def stream(self, request: dict[str, Any]) -> Iterable[dict[str, Any]]:
"""Send the request to the OpenAI model and get the streaming response.

    Args:
        request: The formatted request to send to the OpenAI model.

    Returns:
        An iterable of response events from the OpenAI model.
    """
    response = self.client.chat.completions.create(**request)

this does not work if the caller does not explicitly set stream=True, in the request, or set to False
The OpenAI API will not stream responses unless stream=True is set.

So it is an easy fix

Before passing the request dictionary to self.client.chat.completions.create(**request), override or set the stream key to True:

request["stream"] = True
response = self.client.chat.completions.create(**request)

Expected Behavior

see comment above for the fix

Actual Behavior

see comment above for the fix

Additional Context

No response

Possible Solution

see comment above for the fix

Related Issues

No response

[pgrayy]

Hello @thinkinginmath, thank you for raising an issue. I do want to call out that stream=True is set in the format_request method (here). format_request is always called as part of the converse call which is the top level method through which requests to the model are made. Do you have a scenario where you need to format your own request and invoke the stream method directly?

[thinkinginmath]

Thank you for the clarification!

in current unitest, stream() is called without "stream": True, while this works in tests due to mocking, in real usage it could lead to subtle bugs. If, by design, users are expected to use converse() and not call stream() directly, we could make this intent clearer in the codebase. e.g., rename stream() to _stream() and update the doc to indicate for internal use.

Also, the format_request() method always produces a streaming request (i.e., sets "stream": True"), but the method name doesn’t make this explicit. A descriptive name like format_streaming_request() helps avoid confusion for future contributors.

Since model related classes are meant to be internal, these are just suggestions for clarity.