Route direct Gemini API calls through the Catalyst gateway to get request observability, latency tracking, and persisted request and response payloads. This guide covers Google’s Gemini API atDocumentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.inference.net/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
generativelanguage.googleapis.com, not Vertex AI.
Use the native Gemini paths when you want Google’s generateContent and streamGenerateContent request format:
| Gemini API operation | Catalyst path |
|---|---|
| Non-streaming generation | /v1beta/models/{model}:generateContent |
| Streaming generation | /v1beta/models/{model}:streamGenerateContent |
gemini provider. You can still set x-inference-provider: gemini explicitly to make routing obvious.
Looking for Gemini through Google Cloud Vertex AI instead? Use the Vertex AI guide.
Setup
Get your API keys
You need two keys:
- Inference Catalyst project API key — from your dashboard under API Keys
- Gemini API key — from Google AI Studio
Use the Google Gen AI SDK
The Google Gen AI SDK can point at the Catalyst gateway with
httpOptions.baseUrl. The SDK sends your Gemini key as x-goog-api-key; Catalyst forwards that header downstream and uses Authorization for your Catalyst project key.Headers
| Header | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
Authorization | Yes | Bearer <your-project-api-key> authenticates the request to Catalyst and links telemetry to your project. |
x-inference-provider | No | Set to gemini to make routing explicit. Native Gemini paths default to Gemini when omitted. |
x-inference-provider-api-key | Yes for cURL | Your Gemini API key. Catalyst forwards it to Gemini as x-goog-api-key. |
x-inference-environment | No | Tags requests with an environment, such as production or staging. |
x-inference-task-id | No | Groups requests under a logical task for filtering and analytics. |
Supported paths
Catalyst currently supports the direct Gemini generation paths:/v1beta/models/{model}:generateContent/v1beta/models/{model}:streamGenerateContent/v1/models/{model}:generateContent/v1/models/{model}:streamGenerateContent
OpenAI-compatible endpoint
If you would rather use the OpenAI request format (for example, to reuse an existing OpenAI SDK setup), Gemini exposes an OpenAI-compatible surface athttps://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai. Catalyst can route to it by combining the OpenAI-format path with a provider URL override:
| Header | Value |
|---|---|
x-inference-provider | gemini |
x-inference-provider-url | https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai |
x-inference-provider-api-key | Your Gemini API key. Catalyst forwards it as Authorization: Bearer <key> because the OpenAI-compat endpoint requires bearer auth. |
cURL
:generateContent paths above remain the recommended surface — they expose Gemini features (system instructions, thinking traces, response schemas, image inputs) that the OpenAI-compat shim does not pass through.