AI / Google Antigravity Gemini Fundamentals Interview Questions
What are model version types in the Gemini API and which should you use in production?
Gemini model IDs follow a structured naming convention that indicates the model's version type. Choosing the right version type affects stability, rate limits, and billing behaviour.
| Type | Example | Behaviour | Production use? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stable | gemini-2.5-flash-001 | Pinned; does not change; most predictable | Recommended for production |
| Preview | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | May change; billing enabled; deprecated with >= 2 weeks notice | Acceptable for production with risk |
| Latest alias | -latest suffix | Hot-swapped to newest release automatically | Avoid in production - can break without notice |
| Experimental | ...-exp suffix | May change; often restricted rate limits | Development/testing only |
# GOOD: use a pinned stable model in production response = client.models.generate_content( model="gemini-2.5-flash-001", # stable, versioned, won't change contents="...", ) # ACCEPTABLE: preview with awareness of deprecation risk response = client.models.generate_content( model="gemini-3.1-pro-preview", # preview: >= 2 weeks deprecation notice contents="...", ) # AVOID in production: auto-updated aliases response = client.models.generate_content( model="gemini-flash-latest", # will silently upgrade to new model releases! contents="...", ) # WARNING: Gemini 3 Pro Preview was deprecated March 9, 2026 # with minimal migration window - a real-world example of preview risk. # Always use versioned IDs for customer-facing applications.
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