> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.helicone.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Moderations

> Enable OpenAI's moderation feature in your LLM applications to automatically detect and filter harmful content in user messages.

By integrating with OpenAI's moderation endpoint, Helicone helps you check whether the user message is potentially harmful.

## Why Moderations

* Identifying harmful requests and take action, for example, by filtering it.
* Ensuring any inappropriate or harmful content in user messages is flagged and prevented from being processed.
* Maintaining the safety of the interactions with your application.

## Getting Started

<Warning>
  Moderations currently work with **OpenAI models only** (gpt-4, gpt-3.5-turbo, etc.) as it uses OpenAI's moderation endpoint.
</Warning>

To enable moderation, set `Helicone-Moderations-Enabled` to `true`.

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl https://ai-gateway.helicone.ai/chat/completions \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $HELICONE_API_KEY" \
    -H "Helicone-Moderations-Enabled: true" \ # Add this header and set to true
    -d '{
      "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
      "messages": [
        {
          "role": "user",
          "content": "How do I enable moderations?"
        }
      ]
  }'
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  from openai import OpenAI
  import os

  client = OpenAI(
      base_url="https://ai-gateway.helicone.ai",
      api_key=os.getenv("HELICONE_API_KEY"),
  )

  response = client.chat.completions.create(
      model="gpt-4o-mini",
      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "How do I enable moderations?"}],
      extra_headers={
        "Helicone-Moderations-Enabled": "true", # Add this header and set to true
      }
  )
  ```

  ```typescript Node.js theme={null}
  import { OpenAI } from "openai";

  const client = new OpenAI({
    baseURL: "https://ai-gateway.helicone.ai",
    apiKey: process.env.HELICONE_API_KEY,
  });

  const response = await client.chat.completions.create(
    {
      model: "gpt-4o-mini",
      messages: [{ role: "user", content: "How do I enable moderations?" }]
    },
    {
      headers: {
        "Helicone-Moderations-Enabled": "true", // Add this header and set to true
      }
    }
  );
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<Note>
  The moderation call to the OpenAI endpoint will utilize your OpenAI API key configured in Helicone.
</Note>

<Accordion title="A Deep-Dive of the Moderation Process">
  1. **Activation:** When `Helicone-Moderations-Enabled` is true and the provider is OpenAI, the user's latest message is prepared for moderation before any chat completion request.
  2. **Moderation Check:** Our proxy sends the message to the OpenAI Moderation endpoint to assess its content.
  3. **Flag Evaluation:** If the moderation endpoint flags the message as inappropriate or harmful, an error response is generated.
</Accordion>

### Error Repsonse

If the message is flagged, the response will have a `400 status code`. **It's crucial to handle this response appropriately.**

If the message is not flagged, the proxy forwards it to the chat completion endpoint, and the process continues as normal.

Here's an example of the error response when flagged:

```json theme={null}
{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "PROMPT_FLAGGED_FOR_MODERATION",
    "message": "The given prompt was flagged by the OpenAI Moderation endpoint.",
    "details": "See your Helicone request page for more info: https://www.helicone.ai/requests?[REQUEST_ID]"
  }
}
```

## Coming Soon

We're continually expanding our moderation features. Upcoming updates include:

* Customizable moderation criteria

***

<Accordion title="Need more help?">
  Additional questions or feedback? Reach out to
  [help@helicone.ai](mailto:help@helicone.ai) or [schedule a
  call](https://cal.com/team/helicone/helicone-discovery) with us.
</Accordion>