Learn to integrate OpenAI's API with Python through both manual HTTP requests and the official SDK in this 15-minute tutorial. Generate and securely configure your OpenAI API key using environment variables, then install required libraries using the uv command. Practice making API calls without the SDK using Python's requests library to interact with the gpt-4o model, setting up URI, headers, API key, and JSON payload while properly handling responses. Compare this approach with the cleaner, more readable implementation using the official OpenAI SDK and gpt-5 model. Master both methods to safely and efficiently integrate AI models into your Python projects, understanding when to use each approach for optimal development workflow.