Call the OpenAI API from Google Apps Script (with Examples)

OpenAI models can classify support tickets, draft email replies, or summarize Sheet notes when called from Apps Script via UrlFetchApp to api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions.

Store OPENAI_API_KEY in Script Properties. Batch rows with rate awareness, GPT calls are slower and costlier than spreadsheet formulas.

Never send regulated PII without review. Log prompt hashes, not full customer text, in production. See /blog/apps-script-rest-api-guide for JSON POST patterns.

Example code

function classifyTicket(note) {
  const key = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getProperty('OPENAI_API_KEY');
  const res = UrlFetchApp.fetch('https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions', {
    method: 'post',
    contentType: 'application/json',
    headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer ' + key },
    payload: JSON.stringify({
      model: 'gpt-4o-mini',
      messages: [
        { role: 'system', content: 'Return one label: Billing, Technical, Sales.' },
        { role: 'user', content: note },
      ],
      max_tokens: 20,
    }),
  });
  return JSON.parse(res.getContentText()).choices[0].message.content.trim();
}

FAQ