InfrastructureUX Updated 2026

Streaming

Definition

Sending a model's response token by token as it is generated, instead of waiting for the whole answer, so text appears progressively.

Because language models produce one token at a time, an API can emit each token as soon as it is ready rather than buffering the full reply. This is commonly delivered over Server-Sent Events, a browser-native streaming mechanism defined in the HTML Living Standard.

Streaming lowers perceived latency — the user sees words immediately — even though total generation time is unchanged.

References

Primary, peer-reviewed and archival sources for this definition.

Server-sent events (HTML Living Standard, §9.2)
WHATWG (2024). Web standard.

Dictionary & encyclopedic entries

Cite this entry

MultipleChat. "Streaming." MultipleChat AI & LLM Glossary, 2026. https://multiple.chat/ai-glossary/streaming

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