Gemini File Search fails on paid Tier 1 project but works with free API key

Gemini API
1

I’m facing an issue with Gemini File Search on a paid Tier 1 project.

“Modified by moderator”

  • Project ID: symbolic-folio-459807-m4

  • Billing: Enabled (paid Tier 1)

For this project/API key:

  • File Search stores can be created successfully

  • File uploads succeed

  • However, every uploaded document immediately increases failedDocumentsCount

  • No document ever reaches the DONE state

  • No error message or failure reason is returned by the API

This is not file-specific:

  • Tested multiple file formats (TXT, PDF)

  • Tested very small files

  • Created new File Search stores

  • Retried uploads and waited

  • Everything worked normally until yesterday, then suddenly started failing

Critical comparison:

  • Using the exact same code and files

  • With a different Gemini API key / project

  • File Search works correctly and documents reach DONE

This strongly suggests a project-level / entitlement / backend File Search issue, not an application, file, or implementation problem.

Has anyone else seen this happen recently with paid Gemini projects, or is this a known backend regression?

3

Ah, I surmise I’ve pinpointed the crux of the matter: "code": 429, "message": "Failed to embed content.", "status": "RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED". The quotaMetric is generativelanguage.googleapis.com/embed_content_paid_tier_requests. Consequently, it seems the system encountered an impediment in indexing or segmenting the file. Therefore, I have adjusted the quota in the Google Cloud console.