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Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

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Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#51

Post by leopoldj »

obmelvin wrote: post #43

I don't understand the multiple posts / comments I've seen about this. I google `gemini API key` and the first result* is this docs page: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key That docs page has a link in the first primary section on the page. Sure, it could be a huge CTA, but this is a docs page, so it's kinda nice that it's not gone through a marketing make over. * besides sponsored result for AI Studio (Ma…

As the article states, generating the key itself is easy. But getting credit and billing are the issues.

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#52

Post by ryuuseijin »

Just a note that you can use opencode with their API gateway (they call it "zen") to get access to all the most popular models using a single account, including gemini. (Although this wouldn't have helped the author, since they wanted to try the Gemini CLI specifically).

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#53

Post by Leynos »

verdverm wrote: post #49
obmelvin wrote: post #43

I don't understand the multiple posts / comments I've seen about this. I google `gemini API key` and the first result* is this docs page: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key That docs page has a link in the first primary section on the page. Sure, it could be a huge CTA, but this is a docs page, so it's kinda nice that it's not gone through a marketing make over. * besides sponsored result for AI Studio (Ma…

Most of them are correlating gemini-cli experience (trash) with the broader access to Gemini via studio or cloud (not at all a problem)

They could always just use OpenCoder, Crush or Goose with OpenRouter (https://openrouter.ai/google/gemini-3-pro-preview)

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#55

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

andy99 wrote: post #46

I use OpenAI and Anthropic APIs every day for work. I have never used google Gemini precisely because there seems to be a whole different set of friction involved in getting an account. First I don’t want to tie anything to my google account, especially any form of payment (no idea if I actually need to do this). Second I don’t want AI studio or whatever, I just want a similar api to the others I can hit. I admit I’m…

I feel you on not wanting to tie anything additional to your Google account. Will I somehow do something “naughty” (say spam an emoji during a livestream) that gets me permanently banned for life from all services?

Google really needs to evaluate separating service bans. I cannot be the only one who would rather go to a competitor than risk angering the black box and destroying my digital life.

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#56

Post by malfist »

politelemon wrote: post #50
obmelvin wrote: post #43

I don't understand the multiple posts / comments I've seen about this. I google `gemini API key` and the first result* is this docs page: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key That docs page has a link in the first primary section on the page. Sure, it could be a huge CTA, but this is a docs page, so it's kinda nice that it's not gone through a marketing make over. * besides sponsored result for AI Studio (Ma…

I did this same thing and this was my first result too. I am just not seeing how the author ended up where they did, unless knowing how to use Google search is not a core skill.

I did notice in their post instead of searching for answers, they asked Gemini how to do things, and when that didn't work, they asked Claude.

I often see coworkers offload their work of critical thinking to an AI to give them answers instead doing the grunt work nessecary to find their answers on their own.

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#57

Post by impure »

Havoc wrote: post #7

Yeah can't figure out WTH is going on in google's AI ecosystem either. They absolutely deserve credit for their free tier API keys though. That's unheard of in big cloud - an actual you can't shoot yourself in the foot with a life ruining bill thing. Can't recall what part of their product maze I got it from but it seems to do what it says on tin

The free tier is good but they've been cracking down on rate limits. Just recently they significantly dropped the max requests per day.

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#58

Post by amluto »

verdverm wrote: post #49
obmelvin wrote: post #43

I don't understand the multiple posts / comments I've seen about this. I google `gemini API key` and the first result* is this docs page: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key That docs page has a link in the first primary section on the page. Sure, it could be a huge CTA, but this is a docs page, so it's kinda nice that it's not gone through a marketing make over. * besides sponsored result for AI Studio (Ma…

Most of them are correlating gemini-cli experience (trash) with the broader access to Gemini via studio or cloud (not at all a problem)

> Gemini via studio

Excuse me? If you mean AI Studio, are you talking about the product where you can’t even switch which logged in account you’re using without agreeing to its terms under whatever random account it selected, where the ability to turn off training on your data does not obviously exist, and where it’s extremely unclear how an organization is supposed to pay for it?

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#59

Post by marcuskaz »

9rx wrote: post #20
marcuskaz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developer experience matters. This is what Vercel figured out and why their admin screens are sooooooo much better than anything AWS or Google creates.

"Developer experience matters" and "Vercel" being the example is something I never thought I would see together. I actually do agree that Vercel's admin screens are quite good compared to the other usual suspects. But I don't consider that to be on the development side of things. It's done decently well because it is geared towards the business folks who are paying the bills. Developers writing code on top of the dev…

:thinking-face:

- How builds and deploys are configured

- The simple aspect of connecting a GitHub repo and you get auto deploys

- Auto creating branch environments that make testing as easy as a new link

- Just configuring users and permissions and not seeing IAM anywhere is a huge win

My billing admins don't do any of this stuff.

Re: Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration

#60

Post by sh34r »

cortesoft wrote: post #31
dannyobrien wrote: post #11

The odd thing about all of this (well, I guess it's not odd, just ironic), is that when Google AdWords started, one of the notable things about it was that anyone could start serving or buying ads. You just needed a credit-card. I think that bought Google a lot of credibility (along with the ads being text-only) as they entered an already disreputable space: ordinary users and small businesses felt they were getting…

I have had way too many arguments over the years with product and sales people at my job on the importance of instant self-signup. I want to be able to just pay and go, without having to talk to people or wait for things. I know part of it is that sales wants to be able to price discriminate and wants to be able to use their sales skills on a customer, but I am never going to sign up for anything that makes me talk t…

> I know part of it is that sales wants to be able to price discriminate and wants to be able to use their sales skills on a customer

You say that as if it isn’t the entire reason why these interactions should be avoided at all costs. Dynamic pricing should be a crime.

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