Add Google AI Studio (Gemini API) as a built-in model provider
Feature Request
Add Google AI Studio (the Gemini API at generativelanguage.googleapis.com) as a first-class built-in model provider in the bundled provider catalog.
Problem
Google's Gemini models (e.g., Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview) are currently only available in Codex through third-party aggregators like OpenRouter or GitHub Models. There is no built-in provider that connects directly to Google AI Studio using a GEMINI_API_KEY.
This means users who want to use Google's models directly — with lower latency, direct billing, and access to the latest preview models — must either:
- Manually configure a custom provider in
~/.codex/config.toml, or - Route through a third-party provider (e.g., OpenRouter), paying markup and losing access to some preview models.
Proposed Solution
Google AI Studio offers an OpenAI-compatible endpoint at:
https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/
This means a new provider entry can be added to the bundled catalog (provider_catalog.json) using wire_api: "chat" with GEMINI_API_KEY as the environment key — no new wire protocol is required.
The provider entry would look like:
{
"id": "google",
"name": "Google AI Studio",
"env_key": "GEMINI_API_KEY",
"base_url": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai",
"wire_api": "chat",
"sort_priority": 3,
"models": [
{
"id": "gemini-3.5-flash",
"display_name": "Gemini 3.5 Flash",
"description": "gemini-flash • Reasoning • Tool calling • Image input • PDF input",
"reasoning": true,
"input_modalities": ["text", "image"],
"context_window": 1048576,
"priority": 0
},
{
"id": "gemini-3.1-pro-preview",
"display_name": "Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview",
"description": "gemini-pro • Reasoning • Tool calling • Image input • PDF input",
"reasoning": true,
"input_modalities": ["text", "image"],
"context_window": 1048576,
"priority": 1
}
]
}
Context
Previous related issues/PRs were all closed without resolution:
- #1106 / #1107 — Vertex AI with ADC (closed, different scope — this request is for the simpler AI Studio API key flow)
- #3848 — Proposed a new
generateContentwire_api (closed — unnecessary now that Google provides an OpenAI-compatible endpoint) - #1292 — Initial Gemini 2.5 Pro support via native SDK (closed — the OpenAI-compatible endpoint is a simpler path)
Acceptance Criteria
- A
googleprovider entry exists in the bundled provider catalog - Users can select Google AI Studio models by setting
GEMINI_API_KEYand configuringmodel_provider = "google" - Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview are listed as available models