Generate streaming text content with Generative Model

This sample demonstrates how to use Generative Models to generate text in a streaming format.

Explore further

For detailed documentation that includes this code sample, see the following:

• Generate content with the Gemini API in Vertex AI

Code sample

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Vertex AI quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vertex AI Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vertex AI, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	genai "google.golang.org/genai"
)

// generateWithTextStream shows how to generate text stream using a text prompt.
func generateWithTextStream(w io.Writer) error {
	ctx := context.Background()

	client, err := genai.NewClient(ctx, &genai.ClientConfig{
		HTTPOptions: genai.HTTPOptions{APIVersion: "v1"},
	})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create genai client: %w", err)
	}

	modelName := "gemini-2.5-flash"
	contents := genai.Text("Why is the sky blue?")

	for resp, err := range client.Models.GenerateContentStream(ctx, modelName, contents, nil) {
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to generate content: %w", err)
		}

		chunk := resp.Text()

		fmt.Fprintln(w, chunk)
	}

	// Example response:
	// The
	//  sky is blue
	//  because of a phenomenon called **Rayleigh scattering**. Here's the breakdown:
	// ...

	return nil
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Vertex AI quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vertex AI Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vertex AI, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import com.google.genai.Client;
import com.google.genai.ResponseStream;
import com.google.genai.types.GenerateContentResponse;
import com.google.genai.types.HttpOptions;

public class TextGenerationWithTextStream {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String contents = "Why is the sky blue?";
    String modelId = "gemini-2.5-flash";
    generateContent(modelId, contents);
  }

  // Generates text stream with text input
  public static String generateContent(String modelId, String contents) {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests.
    try (Client client =
        Client.builder()
            .location("global")
            .vertexAI(true)
            .httpOptions(HttpOptions.builder().apiVersion("v1").build())
            .build()) {

      StringBuilder responseTextBuilder = new StringBuilder();

      try (ResponseStream<GenerateContentResponse> responseStream =
          client.models.generateContentStream(modelId, contents, null)) {

        for (GenerateContentResponse chunk : responseStream) {
          System.out.print(chunk.text());
          responseTextBuilder.append(chunk.text());
        }
      }
      // Example response:
      // The sky appears blue due to a phenomenon called **Rayleigh scattering**. Here's
      // a breakdown of why:
      // ...
      return responseTextBuilder.toString();
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in the Vertex AI quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vertex AI Node.js API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vertex AI, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

const {GoogleGenAI} = require('@google/genai');

const GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT = process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT;
const GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION = process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION || 'global';

async function generateContent(
  projectId = GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT,
  location = GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION
) {
  const ai = new GoogleGenAI({
    vertexai: true,
    project: projectId,
    location: location,
  });

  const response = await ai.models.generateContentStream({
    model: 'gemini-2.5-flash',
    contents: 'Why is the sky blue?',
  });

  let response_text = '';
  for await (const chunk of response) {
    response_text += chunk.text;
    console.log(chunk.text);
  }
  return response_text;
}

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Vertex AI quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Vertex AI Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Vertex AI, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

from google import genai
from google.genai.types import HttpOptions

client = genai.Client(http_options=HttpOptions(api_version="v1"))

for chunk in client.models.generate_content_stream(
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    contents="Why is the sky blue?",
):
    print(chunk.text, end="")
# Example response:
# The
#  sky appears blue due to a phenomenon called **Rayleigh scattering**. Here's
#  a breakdown of why:
# ...

What's next

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