# Create a background interaction always returns error

**URL:** <https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/create-a-background-interaction-always-returns-error/184522>\
**Category:** Gemini API\
**Tags:** api, gemini, help-request\
**Created:** [September 23, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/create-a-background-interaction-always-returns-error/184522 "2026-09-23T13:31:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Blinc\_Software](https://d1dlmcr85iqnpo.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.ai.google.dev/blinc_software/32/148965_2.png) [@Blinc\_Software](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/u/Blinc_Software)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://discuss.ai.google.dev/t/create-a-background-interaction-always-returns-error/184522/1 "2026-09-23T13:31:10Z")

</div>

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](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”}

```json

```

But all polling requests fail with 400 and bad request.

```json
{
  "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.