Google Generative AI SDK (Gemini)

0.8.6 · deprecated · verified Tue Mar 24

DEPRECATED. The original Python SDK for Gemini API (AI Studio). Replaced by google-genai (the unified Google Gen AI SDK). End-of-life: November 30, 2025. All support permanently ended. New features like Live API, Veo, Imagen 3 are only available in google-genai. Last version: 0.8.6. Do not use for new projects.

Warnings

breaking google-generativeai is fully end-of-life as of November 30, 2025. No bug fixes, no security patches, no new features. The repo is archived at google-gemini/deprecated-generative-ai-python.
Fix: pip install google-genai and migrate. Full migration guide at ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/libraries
breaking google-cloud-aiplatform generative AI module deprecated June 24, 2026. SDK releases after that date will not include generative AI modules.
Fix: Use google-genai with vertexai=True for Vertex AI access.
breaking API surface completely changed. genai.configure() removed. GenerativeModel class removed. New SDK uses Client() instance with client.models.generate_content().
Fix: Replace genai.configure(api_key=...) with client = genai.Client(api_key=...). Replace model.generate_content() with client.models.generate_content(model=..., contents=...).
breaking GenerationConfig renamed to GenerateContentConfig and moved to google.genai.types.
Fix: from google.genai import types; types.GenerateContentConfig(temperature=0.1)
gotcha Two separate env vars for API key depending on mode. Gemini API mode reads GEMINI_API_KEY. Google AI Studio also accepts GOOGLE_API_KEY. Vertex AI mode uses Application Default Credentials.
Fix: Set GEMINI_API_KEY for AI Studio usage. Use gcloud auth application-default login for Vertex AI mode.
gotcha LLMs trained before 2025 have no knowledge of google-genai SDK. Will generate google-generativeai code (old API) by default. High hallucination risk on import pattern and Client() usage.
Fix: Always verify generated Gemini code uses 'from google import genai' not 'import google.generativeai as genai'.

Install

pip install google-genai Python (new unified SDK — use this)
pip install google-generativeai Python (deprecated — do not use for new projects)

Imports

genai.Client (new SDK)

from google import genai
from google.genai import types

client = genai.Client(api_key='GEMINI_API_KEY')
response = client.models.generate_content(
    model='gemini-2.5-flash',
    contents='Explain quantum computing',
    config=types.GenerateContentConfig(temperature=0.1)
)
print(response.text)

Old SDK uses module-level genai.configure() + GenerativeModel class. New SDK uses Client() instance pattern. Completely different API surface.

GenerationConfig (new SDK)
```
from google.genai import types
config = types.GenerateContentConfig(
    temperature=0.1,
    max_output_tokens=1024
)
```
GenerationConfig renamed to GenerateContentConfig in new SDK. Class lives in google.genai.types not google.generativeai.

Vertex AI mode (new SDK)

from google import genai

# Vertex AI mode
client = genai.Client(
    vertexai=True,
    project='your-project-id',
    location='us-central1'
)

# Gemini API mode (AI Studio)
client = genai.Client(api_key='GEMINI_API_KEY')

google-cloud-aiplatform generative AI module also deprecated June 24, 2026. Both old paths converge into google-genai with vertexai=True flag.

Quickstart

Minimal Gemini call using the new google-genai SDK 1.x.

# pip install google-genai
from google import genai
from google.genai import types
import os

client = genai.Client(api_key=os.environ['GEMINI_API_KEY'])

response = client.models.generate_content(
    model='gemini-2.5-flash',
    contents='What is the capital of France?',
    config=types.GenerateContentConfig(
        temperature=0.1,
        max_output_tokens=256
    )
)
print(response.text)

view raw JSON →