Account restricted to AQ. keys after key exposure — requesting AIza restoration

Gemini API
1

Hello Google AI Developer Support Team,

I am writing to request restoration of my account’s ability to generate standard AIza-format API keys in Google AI Studio.

Issue:
All API keys generated under my account — including in newly created projects — now produce “AQ.” prefix tokens instead of the standard “AIza” format. These AQ. keys fail with authentication errors against the generativelanguage.googleapis.com endpoint and are incompatible with the official SDKs/tools that expect the standard AIza key structure.

Account details:

  • Account email: c...@gmail.com
  • Project Name: projects/1048753952..
  • Project Number: 1048753952..

Likely cause and remediation:
I believe this restriction may have been triggered because one of my API keys was exposed previously. I have already deleted/rotated the affected key and taken steps to keep my keys secure (storing them only in environment variables and never committing them to public repositories).

Given that the exposed key has been revoked, could you please review my account and restore standard AIza key generation?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

2

We are moving away from Traffic keys (Alza) and towards a more secure Authentication Key (AQ). AI Studio will now only generate Authentication Key (AQ) keys. More information on key usage can be found in the Using Gemini API keys documentation.

Please submit any compatibility issues with services / SDKs etc. in this form for our engineering team to review. Thanks!