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Gemini API Dev

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Best practices for building apps using the Gemini API

By Google 3,000 stars v1.0 Updated 2026-03-15
$ Add to GEMINI.md

About This Skill

# Gemini API Development Skill

Overview

  • The Gemini API provides access to Google's most advanced AI models. Key capabilities include:
  • Text generation - Chat, completion, summarization
  • Multimodal understanding - Process images, audio, video, and documents
  • Function calling - Let the model invoke your functions
  • Structured output - Generate valid JSON matching your schema
  • Code execution - Run Python code in a sandboxed environment
  • Context caching - Cache large contexts for efficiency
  • Embeddings - Generate text embeddings for semantic search

Current Gemini Models

  • `gemini-3-pro-preview`: 1M tokens, complex reasoning, coding, research
  • `gemini-3-flash-preview`: 1M tokens, fast, balanced performance, multimodal
  • `gemini-3-pro-image-preview`: 65k / 32k tokens, image generation and editing

> [!IMPORTANT] > Models like `gemini-2.5-*`, `gemini-2.0-*`, `gemini-1.5-*` are legacy and deprecated. Use the new models above. Your knowledge is outdated.

SDKs

  • Python: `google-genai` install with `pip install google-genai`
  • JavaScript/TypeScript: `@google/genai` install with `npm install @google/genai`
  • Go: `google.golang.org/genai` install with `go get google.golang.org/genai`
  • Java:
  • - groupId: `com.google.genai`, artifactId: `google-genai`
  • - Latest version can be found here: https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/com.google.genai/google-genai/versions (let's call it `LAST_VERSION`)
  • - Install in `build.gradle`:
  • ```
  • implementation("com.google.genai:google-genai:${LAST_VERSION}")
  • ```
  • - Install Maven dependency in `pom.xml`:
  • ```
  • <dependency>
  • <groupId>com.google.genai</groupId>
  • <artifactId>google-genai</artifactId>
  • <version>${LAST_VERSION}</version>
  • </dependency>
  • ```

> [!WARNING] > Legacy SDKs `google-generativeai` (Python) and `@google/generative-ai` (JS) are deprecated. Migrate to the new SDKs above urgently by following the Migration Guide.

Quick Start

Python ```python from google import genai

client = genai.Client() response = client.models.generate_content( model="gemini-3-flash-preview", contents="Explain quantum computing" ) print(response.text) ```

JavaScript/TypeScript ```typescript import { GoogleGenAI } from "@google/genai";

const ai = new GoogleGenAI({}); const response = await ai.models.generateContent({ model: "gemini-3-flash-preview", contents: "Explain quantum computing" }); console.log(response.text); ```

Go ```go package main

import ( "context" "fmt" "log" "google.golang.org/genai" )

func main() { ctx := context.Background() client, err := genai.NewClient(ctx, nil) if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }

resp, err := client.Models.GenerateContent(ctx, "gemini-3-flash-preview", genai.Text("Explain quantum computing"), nil) if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }

fmt.Println(resp.Text) } ```

Java

```java import com.google.genai.Client; import com.google.genai.types.GenerateContentResponse;

public class GenerateTextFromTextInput { public static void main(String[] args) { Client client = new Client(); GenerateContentResponse response = client.models.generateContent( "gemini-3-flash-preview", "Explain quantum computing", null);

System.out.println(response.text()); } } ```

API spec (source of truth)

Always use the latest REST API discovery spec as the source of truth for API definitions (request/response schemas, parameters, methods). Fetch the spec when implementing or debugging API integration:

  • v1beta (default): `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/$discovery/rest?version=v1beta`
  • Use this unless the integration is explicitly pinned to v1. The official SDKs (google-genai, @google/genai, google.golang.org/genai) target v1beta.
  • v1: `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/$discovery/rest?version=v1`
  • Use only when the integration is specifically set to v1.

When in doubt, use v1beta. Refer to the spec for exact field names, types, and supported operations.

How to use the Gemini API

For detailed API documentation, fetch from the official docs index:

llms.txt URL: `https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/llms.txt`

This index contains links to all documentation pages in `.md.txt` format. Use web fetch tools to:

  1. Fetch `llms.txt` to discover available documentation pages
  2. Fetch specific pages (e.g., `https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/function-calling.md.txt`)

Key Documentation Pages

> [!IMPORTANT] > Those are not all the documentation pages. Use the `llms.txt` index to discover available documentation pages

Gemini Live API

For real-time, bidirectional audio/video/text streaming with the Gemini Live API, install the `google-gemini/gemini-live-api-dev` skill. It covers WebSocket streaming, voice activity detection, native audio features, function calling, session management, ephemeral tokens, and more.

Use Cases

  • Develop applications using Google's Gemini API for text and multimodal AI
  • Implement Gemini API calls with proper authentication and error handling
  • Build features using Gemini's vision, code generation, and reasoning capabilities
  • Integrate Gemini as a secondary AI model alongside Claude or GPT
  • Test and compare Gemini model outputs for different prompt strategies

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • +Comprehensive Gemini API integration guidance with code examples
  • +Covers text, vision, and code generation capabilities
  • +Multi-model strategy enables using Gemini where it excels

Cons

  • -Requires Google AI Studio or Vertex AI API credentials
  • -Only available on claude-code and openclaw platforms
  • -Gemini API changes may outpace the skill's documentation

FAQ

What does Gemini API Dev do?
Best practices for building apps using the Gemini API
What platforms support Gemini API Dev?
Gemini API Dev is available on Gemini CLI, Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI.
What are the use cases for Gemini API Dev?
Develop applications using Google's Gemini API for text and multimodal AI. Implement Gemini API calls with proper authentication and error handling. Build features using Gemini's vision, code generation, and reasoning capabilities.

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Next Step

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