Request for Account Review: Restricted to "AQ." Tokens / Requesting "AIza" Key Restoration

Gemini API
1

Hello Google AI Team,

I am writing to request a review of my account. I believe my account has been restricted, as I am only able to generate API keys starting with AQ. instead of the standard AIza format.

I suspect this restriction was placed because I may have accidentally exposed an older API key in a public repository or online platform.

I want to assure you that I have taken the following corrective actions:

  • I have completely deleted the compromised API key from my Google AI Studio dashboard.

  • I have removed the exposed key from my code and secured my repositories.

  • I have reviewed the security guidelines to prevent this from happening again.

Currently, the AQ. formatted keys are causing compatibility issues with third-party open-source tools (such as MCP servers) that I am trying to use, as they have hardcoded validation expecting the AIza format.

Could you please review my account and restore my ability to generate standard AIza API keys?

Here are my project details:

Thank you for your time and assistance!

Best regards, jiahao

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!

3

Reply:

Thank you so much for the clear and detailed response!

I wanted to mention that the reason I thought the “AQ” key meant my account was restricted and required an appeal was actually because Gemini itself told me so when I asked it for troubleshooting advice. It seems the AI model might be operating on outdated information regarding this new key format and gave me a hallucinated troubleshooting step.

If this is considered a bug or an information gap, it might be worth having the team update Gemini’s knowledge base on this specific API change. That way, fewer developers will get misled like I did and bring unnecessary appeal requests to this forum!

Thanks again for your help and for clarifying the new standard. I will submit the compatibility issue of the third-party tool I’m using via the form you provided.

With love, your Chinese user