Gemini Guide

Look up Gemini API documentation and SDK patterns when building with Google Gemini. This skill brings Gemini docs TO Claude — it does not call Gemini.

Skill Direction Tool

gemini-guide (this) Gemini docs -> Claude WebFetch, local docs

gemini-peer-review Code -> Gemini Direct Gemini API

Documentation Sources

Check in this priority order:

Priority Source Best For

1 GitHub codegen_instructions Always-current SDK patterns — fetch https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/js-genai/refs/heads/main/codegen_instructions.md

2 Google AI docs via WebFetch Official docs — https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/{topic} (append .md.txt for markdown)

3 Local cached docs (if available at ~/Documents/google-gemini-context/ ) Pre-fetched topics — 24 JS, 24 Python, 7 common

Lookup Workflow

When the user asks about a Gemini topic:

• Check corrections first: Read references/deprecated-patterns.md — know what NOT to suggest before writing any code

• Fetch latest SDK patterns: Get the GitHub codegen_instructions.md for always-current patterns

• Map the query to a topic: Read references/topic-index.md — if local docs exist at ~/Documents/google-gemini-context/ , read the matching file; otherwise use WebFetch on https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/{topic}.md.txt

• Synthesise: Combine the documentation into a clear answer with working code examples. Always use the CORRECT patterns from step 1.

Quick Corrections

These are the most common mistakes. Apply these even without reading the full references:

Claude Might Suggest Correct

@google/generative-ai

@google/genai

google-generativeai (Python) google-genai

GoogleGenerativeAI

GoogleGenAI

genAI.getGenerativeModel()

ai.models.generateContent()

model.startChat() / chat.sendMessage()

ai.chats.create() / chat.send()

generationConfig

config

stream=True (method param) config={"stream": True}

gemini-pro

gemini-2.5-flash

gemini-pro-vision

gemini-2.5-flash (unified multimodal)

4 safety categories 5 categories (include HARM_CATEGORY_CIVIC_INTEGRITY )

HARM_CATEGORY_DANGEROUS_CONTENT

HARM_CATEGORY_DANGEROUS (no _CONTENT )

X-Goog-Api-Key (capitalised) x-goog-api-key (lowercase)

Daily rate limits No daily limits — only per-minute (RPM, TPM)

Correct Initialisation (JS)

import { GoogleGenAI } from "@google/genai"; const ai = new GoogleGenAI({}); // auto-reads GEMINI_API_KEY env var const response = await ai.models.generateContent({ model: "gemini-2.5-flash", contents: "Your prompt" });

Correct Initialisation (Python)

from google import genai client = genai.Client() # auto-reads GEMINI_API_KEY env var response = client.models.generate_content( model="gemini-2.5-flash", contents="Your prompt" )

Local Docs (Optional)

If you have a local cache at ~/Documents/google-gemini-context/ , it contains:

Directory Contents

javascript/

24 topic files — quickstart, function-calling, streaming, structured-output, etc.

python/

24 topic files — same topics as JavaScript

common/

7 cross-language files — safety, pricing, rate-limits, errors, auth, regions, openai-compat

rest-api/

REST endpoint docs

MODELS.md

Current model IDs, capabilities, token limits, rate limits

googlegenai-gemini-api.md

Comprehensive SDK guide (608 lines, JS + Python)

If not available, fall back to WebFetch on Google AI docs (append .md.txt for markdown format).

Current Models

Model ID Best For

Gemini 2.5 Pro gemini-2.5-pro

Complex reasoning, advanced coding

Gemini 2.5 Flash gemini-2.5-flash

Most tasks (recommended default)

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite gemini-2.5-flash-lite-preview-06-17

Budget, low latency

Gemini 2.0 Flash gemini-2.0-flash

Fast inference

Text Embedding text-embedding-004

Semantic search, RAG (768 dims)

For full model details, check ~/Documents/google-gemini-context/MODELS.md (if available) or https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models.

Maintenance

When information seems wrong or outdated:

• Check the GitHub codegen_instructions.md (always current)

• Verify model IDs against https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/models

• Flag stale docs to the user

Reference Files

When Read

Mapping a query to a documentation file references/topic-index.md

Checking for deprecated patterns before writing code references/deprecated-patterns.md