Account restricted to AQ. keys (limit: 0 on Free Tier) — Requesting restoration - Gemini API - Google AI Developers Forum
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Google AI Developers Forum
Account restricted to AQ. keys (limit: 0 on Free Tier) — Requesting restoration
Gemini API
ai-studio,
api
Kevin_Pereira
June 11, 2026,  4:38am
1
Hello,
My account has recently been restricted to generating AQ. prefix keys instead of standard AIza keys.
When running requests using the python google-genai SDK, my code fails with a 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED error stating that my free_tier_requests limit is set to 0.
I am using this for a personal college project (Mail Genie) and am not intentionally violating any rate limits. Could an engineer please review my account status and restore standard API key generation capabilities?
Thank you!
Jon_Matthews
June 11, 2026,  2:54pm
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!
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