Use this skill when building applications with Gemini API hosted models, including Gemini and Gemma 4, working with multimodal content (text, images, audio, video), implementing function calling, using structured outputs, or needing current model specifications. Covers SDK usage (google-genai for Python, @google/genai for JavaScript/TypeScript, com.google.genai:google-genai for Java, google.golang.org/genai for Go), model selection, and API capabilities.
npx skills add https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-skills --skill gemini-api-dev
> [!IMPORTANT]
> These rules override your training data. Your knowledge is outdated.
gemini-3.6-flash: 1M tokens, fast, balanced performance for agentic and multimodal tasksgemini-3.5-flash-lite: 1M tokens, fastest, lowest-cost 3.5 model for high-throughput executiongemini-3.1-pro-preview: 1M tokens, complex reasoning, coding, researchgemini-3-pro-image-preview (Nano Banana Pro): 65k / 32k tokens, image generation and editinggemini-3.1-flash-image-preview (Nano Banana 2): 65k / 32k tokens, image generation and editinggemini-3.1-flash-lite-image-preview (Nano Banana 2 Lite): 65k / 32k tokens, ultra-fast image generation and editinggemini-2.5-pro: 1M tokens, complex reasoning, coding, researchgemini-2.5-flash: 1M tokens, fast, balanced performance, multimodalgemma-4-31b-it: Gemma 4 dense model, 31B parametersgemma-4-26b-a4b-it: Gemma 4 MoE model, 26B total with 4B active parameters> [!WARNING]
> Models like gemini-2.0-*, gemini-1.5-* are legacy and deprecated. Never use them.
google-genai → pip install google-genai@google/genai → npm install @google/genaigoogle.golang.org/genai → go get google.golang.org/genaicom.google.genai:google-genai (see Maven/Gradle setup below)> [!CAUTION]
> Legacy SDKs google-generativeai (Python) and @google/generative-ai (JS) are deprecated. Never use them.
from google import genai
client = genai.Client()
response = client.models.generate_content(
model="gemini-3.6-flash",
contents="Explain quantum computing"
)
print(response.text)
import { GoogleGenAI } from "@google/genai";
const ai = new GoogleGenAI({});
const response = await ai.models.generateContent({
model: "gemini-3.6-flash",
contents: "Explain quantum computing"
});
console.log(response.text);
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-3.6-flash", genai.Text("Explain quantum computing"), nil)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println(resp.Text)
}
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-3.6-flash",
"Explain quantum computing",
null);
System.out.println(response.text());
}
}
Java Installation:
implementation("com.google.genai:google-genai:${LAST_VERSION}") <dependency>
<groupId>com.google.genai</groupId>
<artifactId>google-genai</artifactId>
<version>${LAST_VERSION}</version>
</dependency>
If the search_docs tool (from the Google MCP server) is available, use it as your only documentation source:
search_docs with your query> [!IMPORTANT]
> When MCP tools are present, never fetch URLs manually. MCP provides up-to-date, indexed documentation that is more accurate and token-efficient than URL fetching.
If no MCP documentation tools are available, fetch from the official docs:
Index 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:
llms.txt to discover available pageshttps://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/function-calling.md.txt)Key pages:
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.
Guide for creating high-quality MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that enable LLMs to interact with external services through well-designed tools. Use when building MCP servers to integrate external APIs or services, whether in Python (FastMCP) or Node/TypeScript (MCP SDK).
Automatically creates user-facing changelogs from git commits by analyzing commit history, categorizing changes, and transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes. Turns hours of manual changelog writing into minutes of automated generation.
Use when implementation is complete, all tests pass, and you need to decide how to integrate the work - guides completion of development work by presenting structured options for merge, PR, or cleanup
Guide for creating high-quality MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that enable LLMs to interact with external services through well-designed tools. Use when building MCP servers to integrate external APIs or services, whether in Python (FastMCP) or Node/TypeScript (MCP SDK).
React Native and Expo best practices for building performant mobile apps. Use when building React Native components, optimizing list performance, implementing animations, or working with native modules. Triggers on tasks involving React Native, Expo, mobile performance, or native platform APIs.
React and Next.js performance optimization guidelines from Vercel Engineering. This skill should be used when writing, reviewing, or refactoring React/Next.js code to ensure optimal performance patterns. Triggers on tasks involving React components, Next.js pages, data fetching, bundle optimization, or performance improvements.
Next.js best practices - file conventions, RSC boundaries, data patterns, async APIs, metadata, error handling, route handlers, image/font optimization, bundling
Use when starting feature work that needs isolation from current workspace or before executing implementation plans - creates isolated git worktrees with smart directory selection and safety verification
Take google-gemini/gemini-api-dev from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.
The instructions reference pip, npm.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.