Create a background interaction always returns error

Gemini API
, ,
1

Hi,

I am trying to use the Background interaction api as mentioned here: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/background-execution?hl=en&utm_source=chatgpt.com#create_a_background_interaction

Unfortunately with ““background”: true” all of my polling requests fail. I received the initial message that it was in progress:
```

{“id”:“v1_Ch…”,“status”:“in_progress”,“created”:“2026-09-23T13:23:24Z”,“updated”:“2026-09-23T13:23:24Z”,“service_tier”:“standard”,“object”:“interaction”,“model”:“gemini-3.8-flash”}

But all polling requests fail with 400 and bad request.

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Request contains an invalid argument.",
    "code": "invalid_request"
  }
}

This is using the REST API and the exact code (with my own api key) as in the docs.

  • Background=false requests work fine
  • Generate text works fine

My issue is that i have a long running task and it seems to disconnect after a minute or so.