Getting Your API Keys
How to get a Google Gemini API key
Create a Gemini API key in Google AI Studio for text, images, and Veo video — plus when you need billing on the Cloud project.
What a Google key powers in Landio
One Google key covers Gemini for text generation, Gemini image generation, and Veo for video. It's the broadest single key of the vendors we support, which makes it a reasonable first one to set up if you'd rather deal with a single provider.
This is a Gemini API key from Google AI Studio — not a Google Cloud Vision key, not a Maps key, and not a service-account JSON file. Those are different Google products with different credentials, and none of them work here.
Before you start
You need a Google account. The key gets attached to a Google Cloud project, but AI Studio will create one for you if you don't already have one, so you don't need to touch the Cloud console for the basic path.
Creating the key
This is the shortest of the eight flows — usually under a minute.
Go to aistudio.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Accept the terms if prompted.
Screenshot: The Google AI Studio home screen with the Get API key option in the left sidebar
Click Get API key, then Create API key.
Screenshot: The Google AI Studio API keys screen with the Create API key button
Choose an existing Google Cloud project, or let AI Studio create a new one. If you have no projects, take the offer to make one — the name doesn't matter.
Screenshot: The project selection dialog showing existing Google Cloud projects and the option to create a new one
Copy the key. It begins with AIza. Unlike most vendors here, Google lets you view it again later from the same page — but treat it as a secret anyway.
Screenshot: The generated Gemini API key shown with a copy button and its associated Cloud project
Free tier, and when you outgrow it
Gemini has a genuine free tier with daily request limits, which is enough to evaluate text generation without entering a card at all. That makes Google the cheapest vendor to try first.
Video is the exception. Veo generation, and the higher rate limits, require the paid tier — which means enabling billing on the Google Cloud project the key belongs to. You do that once in the Cloud console, and the same key then works against the paid tier.
Read Google's current terms on the free tier before putting client work through it. Free-tier usage has historically carried different data-handling terms than paid usage, and for agency work that difference matters more than the money does.
Adding the key to Landio
Open AI Providers from the sidebar, find Google in the vendor list, paste the key, and save. The one key then covers Gemini text, Gemini images, and Veo video — select Google for whichever of those you want it to handle.
Keys are encrypted at rest and write-only — after saving, the page only tells you that a key exists, never what it is. That also means there's no way to read a key back out of us later, so keep the copy you saved at the vendor.
Adding a key doesn't unlock a feature; it changes who bills you for it. Every plan already includes an AI allowance, so drafting works before you do any of this. With your own key, that usage bills from Google at their rates instead of counting against the allowance.
You can add more than one key per vendor. Landio will either spread calls across them or treat the extras as failover spares, depending on how you configure that vendor — useful when one key is a paid account and the rest are backups.
If something goes wrong
A permission-denied error on a working key usually means the Generative Language API isn't enabled on that Cloud project. Creating the key through AI Studio normally enables it for you; creating one directly in the Cloud console does not.
Veo calls failing while text works is the billing case above — the project is still on the free tier.
Hitting daily limits quickly is expected on the free tier and is a reason to enable billing, not a sign of a bad key.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Gemini API key the same as a Google Vision API key?
No. Google Cloud Vision is a separate image-analysis product with its own credentials, and a Vision key won't work here. What you need is a Gemini API key from Google AI Studio, created with the steps above. Both live under Google Cloud, which is why the two get confused.
Do I need a credit card to try Gemini?
Not for text. The free tier covers text generation within daily limits with no payment method at all. Video generation with Veo does need billing enabled on the key's Cloud project.
What's the difference between AI Studio and Vertex AI?
Two front doors to the same models. AI Studio issues a simple API key and is what you want here. Vertex AI is the enterprise path and authenticates with service-account credentials instead of an API key — we take an API key, so use AI Studio.
Can I restrict what the key is allowed to do?
Yes. In the Google Cloud console you can apply API restrictions to the key so it only calls the Generative Language API. It takes a couple of minutes and it is the best available answer to "what happens if this key leaks".
Is it safe to paste an API key into a third-party app?
Keys are encrypted before storage and never displayed again after you save them. That said, the honest general answer is: give any third party the narrowest key you can, and keep the ability to revoke it. Where a vendor supports scoped or restricted keys, use one limited to the models Landio actually calls, and rotate it from the vendor's console if you ever stop using us.
This walkthrough was last checked against the provider's live console on . Providers redesign their dashboards without notice — if what you see doesn't match, the button names have probably moved rather than the process changing.
More in Getting Your API Keys