Gemini Imagen Setup

Step 1: Get Your API Key

1. Go to Google AI Studio
2. Sign in with Google
3. Click "Create API Key"
4. Copy the key

Step 2: Set Environment Variable

macOS / Linux (zsh):

echo 'export GEMINI_API_KEY="your_key_here"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

macOS / Linux (bash):

echo 'export GEMINI_API_KEY="your_key_here"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc

Windows PowerShell:

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("GEMINI_API_KEY", "your_key_here", "User")
# Restart terminal

Windows CMD:

setx GEMINI_API_KEY "your_key_here"
:: Restart terminal

Step 3: Install Dependencies

pip install google-genai Pillow

Step 4: Verify

echo "GEMINI_API_KEY is ${GEMINI_API_KEY:+set}"

Should output: GEMINI_API_KEY is set

Troubleshooting

Key not found after setting:

• Restart your terminal
• Check the correct shell config file (.zshrc vs .bashrc)

Invalid API key error:

• Verify the key was copied correctly (no extra spaces)
• Ensure the key is for Gemini API (not Vertex AI)

pip install fails:

• Try pip3 install google-genai Pillow
• Or use python3 -m pip install google-genai Pillow