# Google Gemini

Connect your Google AI account to use Gemini models for the assistant, prompts, and AI rules.

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You need a **Google AI Studio** API key, not a Google Cloud Vertex AI key. Google AI Studio is the consumer/developer API for Gemini.
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## Setup

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#### Get your Google AI API key

Go to [Google AI Studio](https://aistudio.google.com/) and sign in with your Google account.

Click **Get API key** and create a new key. Copy it somewhere safe.
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#### Add the integration in Missive

In Missive, go to **Settings** > **Integrations** > click **Add integration** > search for **Gemini** and click **Add to Missive**.

Enter your **API key** and click **Add**.
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#### Share with your team (optional)

To let your team use AI features, share the integration:

Go to **Settings** > **Integrations** > **Gemini** and click **Share integration** at the top.

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Shared integrations mean everyone uses the same API key. All usage bills to your Google AI account.
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#### Restrict available models (optional)

By default, all models are available to your team. To limit which models they can choose in the Assistant:

Go to **Settings** > **Integrations** > **Gemini** and scroll to **Models**.

Select the models you want to make available. Choosing **All models** automatically includes any future models. Deselecting specific models prevents your team from using them.
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## Available models

### Assistant models

| Model                 | Best for                                            | Speed    | Quality |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ------- |
| Gemini 2.5 Pro        | Complex reasoning, long-context analysis            | Moderate | Highest |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash      | Most daily tasks, good balance of speed and quality | Fast     | Good    |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Quick tasks, lowest cost                            | Fastest  | Basic   |

For drafting customer-facing email replies, Gemini 2.5 Pro gives the best results. Gemini 2.5 Flash is great for most daily tasks, and its large context window handles very long threads well.

### Rule models

| Model            | Description                                               |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash | Fast, cost-effective for classification and routing tasks |

## Data privacy

Google's data handling depends on whether you are on the free or paid tier:

* **Free tier (unpaid quota):** Google uses your prompts and responses to improve its products and train models. Human reviewers may read your data. Do not submit sensitive or confidential information on the free tier.
* **Paid tier (billing account active):** Google does **not** use your prompts or responses to improve products. Data is logged for a limited period only to detect policy violations.

To use the paid tier, make sure your Google AI Studio account is linked to a Google Cloud project with an active billing account.

For full details, see the [Gemini API terms of service](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms).

## Cost and usage

Google AI offers a free tier with usage limits, and a paid tier for higher volume. A token is roughly 3/4 of a word. Check [Google AI pricing](https://ai.google.dev/pricing) for current rates.

Reading a 10-email thread and drafting a reply typically uses 2,000 to 4,000 tokens. At that rate, even heavy daily use of the assistant stays well under a dollar per day with Gemini 2.5 Flash.

### Managing costs

* **Use the best model for manual tasks.** When you trigger AI yourself (drafting a reply, asking the assistant a question), the cost per interaction is negligible. Use Gemini 2.5 Pro for the best results.
* **Use Flash for AI rules.** Rules run automatically on every matching message, so costs add up. Gemini 2.5 Flash is fast and cheap for classification and routing.
* **Monitor usage** in the [Google AI Studio console](https://aistudio.google.com/).
* The free tier may be sufficient for small teams with light usage.
