Understand
The client provides a convenient way to interact with the model API.
npm install --save @fal-ai/clientThe @fal-ai/serverless-client package has been deprecated in favor of @fal-ai/client. Install the new package and update your imports — see client setup.
Set FAL_KEY as an environment variable in your runtime.
export FAL_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"The client API handles the API submit protocol. It will handle the request status updates and return the result when the request is completed.
import { fal } from "@fal-ai/client";
const result = await fal.subscribe("fal-ai/bagel/understand", {
input: {
image_url: "https://storage.googleapis.com/falserverless/bagel/wRhCPSyiKTiLnnWvUpGIl.jpeg",
prompt: "What is shown in the image? "
},
logs: true,
onQueueUpdate: (update) => {
if (update.status === "IN_PROGRESS") {
update.logs.map((log) => log.message).forEach(console.log);
}
},
});
console.log(result.data);
console.log(result.requestId);The API uses an API Key for authentication. It is recommended you set the FAL_KEY environment variable in your runtime when possible.
import { fal } from "@fal-ai/client";
fal.config({
credentials: "YOUR_FAL_KEY"
});When running code on the client-side (e.g. in a browser, mobile app or GUI applications), make sure to not expose your FAL_KEY. Instead, use a server-side proxy to make requests to the API. For more information, check out our server-side integration guide.
The client API provides a convenient way to submit requests to the model.
import { fal } from "@fal-ai/client";
const { request_id } = await fal.queue.submit("fal-ai/bagel/understand", {
input: {
image_url: "https://storage.googleapis.com/falserverless/bagel/wRhCPSyiKTiLnnWvUpGIl.jpeg",
prompt: "What is shown in the image? "
},
webhookUrl: "https://optional.webhook.url/for/results",
});You can fetch the status of a request to check if it is completed or still in progress.
import { fal } from "@fal-ai/client";
const status = await fal.queue.status("fal-ai/bagel/understand", {
requestId: "764cabcf-b745-4b3e-ae38-1200304cf45b",
logs: true,
});Once the request is completed, you can fetch the result. See the Output Schema for the expected result format.
import { fal } from "@fal-ai/client";
const result = await fal.queue.result("fal-ai/bagel/understand", {
requestId: "764cabcf-b745-4b3e-ae38-1200304cf45b"
});
console.log(result.data);
console.log(result.requestId);Some attributes in the API accept file URLs as input. Whenever that's the case you can pass your own URL or a Base64 data URI.
You can pass a Base64 data URI as a file input. The API will handle the file decoding for you. Keep in mind that for large files, this alternative although convenient can impact the request performance.
You can also pass your own URLs as long as they are publicly accessible. Be aware that some hosts might block cross-site requests, rate-limit, or consider the request as a bot.
We provide a convenient file storage that allows you to upload files and use them in your requests. You can upload files using the client API and use the returned URL in your requests.
import { fal } from "@fal-ai/client";
const file = new File(["Hello, World!"], "hello.txt", { type: "text/plain" });
const url = await fal.storage.upload(file);The client will auto-upload the file for you if you pass a binary object (e.g. File, Data).
Read more about file handling in our file upload guide.
image_url string* requiredThe image for the query.
prompt string* requiredThe prompt to query the image with.
seed integerThe seed to use for the generation.
{
"image_url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/falserverless/bagel/wRhCPSyiKTiLnnWvUpGIl.jpeg",
"prompt": "What is shown in the image? "
}text string* requiredThe answer to the query.
seed integer* requiredThe seed used for the generation.
prompt string* requiredThe query used for the generation.
The timings of the generation.
{
"text": "",
"prompt": ""
}