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Generate text from text-only prompts using the Gemini API
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When calling the Gemini API from your app using a Vertex AI in Firebase SDK, you can prompt the Gemini model to generate text based on a text-only input.

Other options for working with the Gemini API

Optionally experiment with an alternative "Google AI" version of the Gemini API
Get free-of-charge access (within limits and where available) using Google AI Studio and Google AI client SDKs. These SDKs should be used for prototyping only in mobile and web apps.

After you're familiar with how a Gemini API works, migrate to our Vertex AI in Firebase SDKs (this documentation), which have many additional features important for mobile and web apps, like protecting the API from abuse using Firebase App Check and support for large media files in requests.

Optionally call the Vertex AI Gemini API server-side (like with Python, Node.js, or Go)
Use the server-side Vertex AI SDKs, Genkit, or Firebase Extensions for the Gemini API.

Before you begin

If you haven't already, complete the getting started guide, which describes how to set up your Firebase project, connect your app to Firebase, add the SDK, initialize the Vertex AI service, and create a GenerativeModel instance.

Generate text from text-only input

Make sure that you've completed the Before you begin section of this guide before trying this sample.

Swift

You can call generateContent() to generate text from a prompt request that includes only text:

import FirebaseVertexAI

// Initialize the Vertex AI service
let vertex = VertexAI.vertexAI()

// Create a `GenerativeModel` instance with a model that supports your use case
let model = vertex.generativeModel(modelName: "gemini-2.0-flash")

// Provide a prompt that contains text
let prompt = "Write a story about a magic backpack."

// To generate text output, call generateContent with the text input
let response = try await model.generateContent(prompt)
print(response.text ?? "No text in response.")

Kotlin

You can call generateContent() to generate text from a prompt request that includes only text:

^{For Kotlin, the methods in this SDK are suspend functions and need to be called
from a Coroutine scope.}

// Initialize the Vertex AI service and create a `GenerativeModel` instance
// Specify a model that supports your use case
val generativeModel = Firebase.vertexAI.generativeModel("gemini-2.0-flash")

// Provide a prompt that contains text
val prompt = "Write a story about a magic backpack."

// To generate text output, call generateContent with the text input
val response = generativeModel.generateContent(prompt)
print(response.text)

Java

You can call generateContent() to generate text from a prompt request that includes only text:

^{For Java, the methods in this SDK return a
ListenableFuture.}

// Initialize the Vertex AI service and create a `GenerativeModel` instance
// Specify a model that supports your use case
GenerativeModel gm = FirebaseVertexAI.getInstance()
        .generativeModel("gemini-2.0-flash");
GenerativeModelFutures model = GenerativeModelFutures.from(gm);

// Provide a prompt that contains text
Content prompt = new Content.Builder()
    .addText("Write a story about a magic backpack.")
    .build();

// To generate text output, call generateContent with the text input
ListenableFuture<GenerateContentResponse> response = model.generateContent(prompt);
Futures.addCallback(response, new FutureCallback<GenerateContentResponse>() {
    @Override
    public void onSuccess(GenerateContentResponse result) {
        String resultText = result.getText();
        System.out.println(resultText);
    }

    @Override
    public void onFailure(Throwable t) {
        t.printStackTrace();
    }
}, executor);

Web

You can call generateContent() to generate text from a prompt request that includes only text:

import { initializeApp } from "firebase/app";
import { getVertexAI, getGenerativeModel } from "firebase/vertexai";

// TODO(developer) Replace the following with your app's Firebase configuration
// See: https://firebase.google.com/docs/web/learn-more#config-object
const firebaseConfig = {
  // ...
};

// Initialize FirebaseApp
const firebaseApp = initializeApp(firebaseConfig);

// Initialize the Vertex AI service
const vertexAI = getVertexAI(firebaseApp);

// Create a `GenerativeModel` instance with a model that supports your use case
const model = getGenerativeModel(vertexAI, { model: "gemini-2.0-flash" });

// Wrap in an async function so you can use await
async function run() {
  // Provide a prompt that contains text
  const prompt = "Write a story about a magic backpack."

  // To generate text output, call generateContent with the text input
  const result = await model.generateContent(prompt);

  const response = result.response;
  const text = response.text();
  console.log(text);
}

run();

Dart

You can call generateContent() to generate text from a prompt request that includes only text:

import 'package:firebase_vertexai/firebase_vertexai.dart';
import 'package:firebase_core/firebase_core.dart';
import 'firebase_options.dart';

await Firebase.initializeApp(
  options: DefaultFirebaseOptions.currentPlatform,
);

// Initialize the Vertex AI service and create a `GenerativeModel` instance
// Specify a model that supports your use case
final model =
      FirebaseVertexAI.instance.generativeModel(model: 'gemini-2.0-flash');

// Provide a prompt that contains text
final prompt = [Content.text('Write a story about a magic backpack.')];

// To generate text output, call generateContent with the text input
final response = await model.generateContent(prompt);
print(response.text);

Learn how to choose a model and optionally a location appropriate for your use case and app.

Stream the response

Make sure that you've completed the Before you begin section of this guide before trying this sample.

You can achieve faster interactions by not waiting for the entire result from the model generation, and instead use streaming to handle partial results. To stream the response, call generateContentStream.

View example: Stream generated text from text-only input

Swift

You can call generateContentStream() to stream generated text from a prompt request that includes only text:

import FirebaseVertexAI

// Initialize the Vertex AI service
let vertex = VertexAI.vertexAI()

// Create a `GenerativeModel` instance with a model that supports your use case
let model = vertex.generativeModel(modelName: "gemini-2.0-flash")

// Provide a prompt that contains text
let prompt = "Write a story about a magic backpack."

// To stream generated text output, call generateContentStream with the text input
let contentStream = try model.generateContentStream(prompt)
for try await chunk in contentStream {
  if let text = chunk.text {
    print(text)
  }
}

Kotlin

You can call generateContentStream() to stream generated text from a prompt request that includes only text:

^{For Kotlin, the methods in this SDK are suspend functions and need to be called
from a Coroutine scope.}

// Initialize the Vertex AI service and create a `GenerativeModel` instance
// Specify a model that supports your use case
val generativeModel = Firebase.vertexAI.generativeModel("gemini-2.0-flash")

// Provide a prompt that includes only text
val prompt = "Write a story about a magic backpack."

// To stream generated text output, call generateContentStream and pass in the prompt
var response = ""
generativeModel.generateContentStream(prompt).collect { chunk ->
    print(chunk.text)
    response += chunk.text
}

Java

You can call generateContentStream() to stream generated text from a prompt request that includes only text:

^{For Java, the streaming methods in this SDK return a
Publisher type from the Reactive Streams library.}

// Initialize the Vertex AI service and create a `GenerativeModel` instance
// Specify a model that supports your use case
GenerativeModel gm = FirebaseVertexAI.getInstance()
        .generativeModel("gemini-2.0-flash");
GenerativeModelFutures model = GenerativeModelFutures.from(gm);

// Provide a prompt that contains text
Content prompt = new Content.Builder()
        .addText("Write a story about a magic backpack.")
        .build();

// To stream generated text output, call generateContentStream with the text input
Publisher<GenerateContentResponse> streamingResponse =
    model.generateContentStream(prompt);

// Subscribe to partial results from the response
final String[] fullResponse = {""};
streamingResponse.subscribe(new Subscriber<GenerateContentResponse>() {
  @Override
  public void onNext(GenerateContentResponse generateContentResponse) {
    String chunk = generateContentResponse.getText();
    fullResponse[0] += chunk;
  }

  @Override
  public void onComplete() {
    System.out.println(fullResponse[0]);
  }

  @Override
  public void onError(Throwable t) {
    t.printStackTrace();
  }

  @Override
  public void onSubscribe(Subscription s) { }
});

Web

You can call generateContentStream() to stream generated text from a prompt request that includes only text:

import { initializeApp } from "firebase/app";
import { getVertexAI, getGenerativeModel } from "firebase/vertexai";

// TODO(developer) Replace the following with your app's Firebase configuration
// See: https://firebase.google.com/docs/web/learn-more#config-object
const firebaseConfig = {
  // ...
};

// Initialize FirebaseApp
const firebaseApp = initializeApp(firebaseConfig);

// Initialize the Vertex AI service
const vertexAI = getVertexAI(firebaseApp);

// Create a `GenerativeModel` instance with a model that supports your use case
const model = getGenerativeModel(vertexAI, { model: "gemini-2.0-flash" });

// Wrap in an async function so you can use await
async function run() {
  // Provide a prompt that contains text
  const prompt = "Write a story about a magic backpack."

  // To stream generated text output, call generateContentStream with the text input
  const result = await model.generateContentStream(prompt);

  for await (const chunk of result.stream) {
    const chunkText = chunk.text();
    console.log(chunkText);
  }

  console.log('aggregated response: ', await result.response);
}

run();

Dart

You can call generateContentStream() to stream generated text from a prompt request that includes only text:

import 'package:firebase_vertexai/firebase_vertexai.dart';
import 'package:firebase_core/firebase_core.dart';
import 'firebase_options.dart';

await Firebase.initializeApp(
  options: DefaultFirebaseOptions.currentPlatform,
);

// Initialize the Vertex AI service and create a `GenerativeModel` instance
// Specify a model that supports your use case
final model =
      FirebaseVertexAI.instance.generativeModel(model: 'gemini-2.0-flash');

// Provide a prompt that contains text
final prompt = [Content.text('Write a story about a magic backpack.')];

// To stream generated text output, call generateContentStream with the text input
final response = model.generateContentStream(prompt);
await for (final chunk in response) {
  print(chunk.text);
}

What else can you do?

Learn how to count tokens before sending long prompts to the model.
Start thinking about preparing for production, including setting up Firebase App Check to protect the Gemini API from abuse by unauthorized clients. Also, make sure to review the production checklist.

Try out other capabilities

Build multi-turn conversations (chat).
Generate text from multimodal prompts (including text, images, PDFs, video, and audio).
Generate structured output (like JSON) from both text and multimodal prompts.
Generate images from text prompts.
Use function calling to connect generative models to external systems and information.

Learn how to control content generation

Understand prompt design, including best practices, strategies, and example prompts.
Configure model parameters like temperature and maximum output tokens (for Gemini) or aspect ratio and person generation (for Imagen).
Use safety settings to adjust the likelihood of getting responses that may be considered harmful.

You can also experiment with prompts and model configurations using Vertex AI Studio.

Learn more about the supported models

Learn about the models available for various use cases and their quotas and pricing.

Give feedback about your experience with Vertex AI in Firebase

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025-05-02 UTC.