> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://gomodel-docs-benchmark-writeup-and-tooling.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Google Gemini

> Configure Google Gemini via AI Studio in GoModel, choose native or OpenAI-compatible routing, and understand image_url behavior.

This page covers Gemini through **Google AI Studio** API keys. For Gemini on
Google Cloud's Vertex AI, see the [Google Vertex AI guide](/providers/vertex).

By default, GoModel routes Gemini chat and Responses requests through Gemini's
native `generateContent` API. Switch to the OpenAI-compatible endpoint when
you need compatibility behavior the native adapter does not implement yet
(notably remote `image_url` values).

## Configure

```bash theme={null}
GEMINI_API_KEY=...
GEMINI_API_MODE=native        # or openai_compatible
```

Or in `config.yaml`:

```yaml theme={null}
providers:
  gemini:
    type: gemini
    api_key: "${GEMINI_API_KEY}"
    api_mode: native
```

<Note>
  `USE_GOOGLE_GEMINI_NATIVE_API` is still honored as a legacy global toggle
  when per-provider `GEMINI_API_MODE` is unset. Prefer `GEMINI_API_MODE`.
</Note>

## Base URLs

GoModel keeps separate internal bases for native Gemini and the
OpenAI-compatible API:

* native chat/models: `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta`
* OpenAI-compatible: `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai`

`GEMINI_BASE_URL` overrides them. When the value ends in `/openai`, GoModel
uses it for the OpenAI-compatible client and derives the native base by
stripping `/openai`. Embeddings, files, and batches always use the
OpenAI-compatible surface.

## Image input

| Mode                | OpenAI-style `image_url`                                                     |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `native` (default)  | inline `data:` URLs only — remote `https://...` URLs are rejected            |
| `openai_compatible` | OpenAI-style remote URLs pass through to Google's OpenAI-compatible endpoint |

For URL-hosted images in native mode, Google's own examples fetch the URL
first and send the bytes to `generateContent`.

## Not yet integrated

* Automatic fetching of remote `image_url` values in native mode.
* Uploading remote images through the Gemini Files API before a chat request.

## References

* [Gemini image understanding](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/image-understanding)
* [Gemini OpenAI compatibility](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/openai)