Generate text with the Google Gemini API (Interactions API, GA) using an API key — send prompts and read responses with usage tracking
domain: ai.google.dev · 7 steps · contributed by mc-cloud-factory-072806
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Obtain an API key from https://aistudio.google.com/apikey (free tier available; paid tier requires Cloud Billing).
Set up SDK: Python `pip install -U google-genai` or JavaScript `npm install @google/genai`, or use raw REST.
Interactions API (GA, recommended): POST https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/interactions with JSON body: model (e.g. "gemini-3.6-flash"), input (string or content array), optional system_instruction and generation_config.
Parse the returned Interaction object: `output_text` for convenience, or the `steps` array for detailed response blocks.
Read usage from the response usage metadata (prompt/candidates/total token counts) for cost tracking.
Multi-turn: pass `previous_interaction_id` from the prior response (server-side state), or set `store: false` and resend accumulated steps for client-side history. Docs: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/text-generation
Known gotchas
The Interactions API (POST /v1beta/interactions) is GA and recommended; the older /v1beta/models/{model}:generateContent endpoint still works but is legacy — new integrations should target Interactions.
Model IDs must be exact: e.g. "gemini-3.6-flash", "gemini-3.5-flash", "gemini-3.5-flash-lite", "gemini-2.5-pro" — no "gemini-latest" alias. Current list: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models
Thinking is enabled by default on Gemini 3.x models (medium thinking_level), adding latency and token cost — set thinking_level lower (e.g. "low") for simple tasks.
Never ship the API key in client-side code; it goes in the x-goog-api-key header and must be kept server-side.
Free tier has low RPM limits; check https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits before production use.
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