Error Handling

Cloud APIs fail. They have rate limits, network blips, and safety filters.

1. Rate Limits (429)

If you send too many requests, Google returns HTTP 429.

• Fix: Exponential Backoff. Wait 1s, then 2s, then 4s.
• Library: tenacity or backoff in Python.

from tenacity import retry, wait_exponential, stop_after_attempt

@retry(wait=wait_exponential(multiplier=1, min=2, max=60), stop=stop_after_attempt(5))
def generate_safe(text):
    return model.generate_content(text)

2. Safety Blocks

As discussed, check response.prompt_feedback. If blocked, do not try to access response.text or your app will crash with ValueError.

3. Empty Responses

Sometimes the model returns an empty string (FinishReason: STOP). Treat this as a failure and maybe retry or show a generic error message.

Summary

• Wrap usages in Try/Except.
• Use libraries for retries.
• Never trust the API to be 100% available.

Module 6 Complete! You can now integrate Gemini into any codebase. In Module 7, we unlock the true power: Multimodal Capabilities.