Building Your First API Tool 🔌

# Science Q&A Tool using Google Gemini API
# Run this in Google Colab
# 1. Get your free API key at: https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
# 2. In Colab: click the 🔑 icon (Secrets), add GEMINI_KEY = your_key

import google.generativeai as genai
import os

# ── Step 1: Configure API key from environment ──
# In Colab Secrets: name=GEMINI_KEY, value=your_actual_key
from google.colab import userdata
API_KEY = userdata.get('GEMINI_KEY')

genai.configure(api_key=API_KEY)

# ── Step 2: Choose a model ──
model = genai.GenerativeModel('gemini-1.5-flash')  # fast, free tier

# ── Step 3: Create a system prompt ──
SYSTEM_PROMPT = """You are a helpful science tutor for Class 9 students in India.
Answer questions clearly and concisely in simple English.
Use real Indian examples where possible.
Maximum 4 sentences per answer."""

def ask_science_question(question):
    """Send a science question to Gemini and return the answer."""
    try:
        full_prompt = f"{SYSTEM_PROMPT}\n\nStudent question: {question}"
        response = model.generate_content(full_prompt)
        return response.text
    except Exception as e:
        return f"Error: {e}. Check your API key and internet connection."

# ── Step 4: Interactive Q&A loop ──
print("🔬 Science Q&A Tutor (powered by Gemini AI)")
print("Type 'quit' to exit\n")

questions = [
    "What is photosynthesis and why is it important?",
    "Explain Newton's second law with a cricket ball example.",
    "How does a vaccine work in simple terms?"
]

for q in questions:
    print(f"Q: {q}")
    answer = ask_science_question(q)
    print(f"A: {answer}")
    print("-" * 60)

# ── Step 5: Interactive mode ──
print("\nYour turn! Ask your own question:")
while True:
    user_q = input("Question (or 'quit'): ").strip()
    if user_q.lower() == 'quit':
        print("Goodbye!")
        break
    if len(user_q) < 5:
        print("Please ask a proper question.")
        continue
    print(f"Gemini: {ask_science_question(user_q)}\n")

import time

def ask_with_retry(question, max_retries=3):
    """Call the API with basic retry logic for rate limit errors."""
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            full_prompt = f"{SYSTEM_PROMPT}\n\nQuestion: {question}"
            response = model.generate_content(full_prompt)
            return response.text

        except Exception as e:
            error_str = str(e)
            if '429' in error_str:
                wait_time = 2 ** attempt  # exponential backoff: 1s, 2s, 4s
                print(f"Rate limited. Waiting {wait_time}s before retry...")
                time.sleep(wait_time)
            elif '403' in error_str:
                return "API key error — check your key in Colab Secrets."
            elif '400' in error_str:
                return "Bad request — your question may contain blocked content."
            else:
                return f"Unexpected error: {error_str}"

    return "Max retries reached. Try again in a minute."

# Test it
print(ask_with_retry("How do earthquakes happen? Explain for a Class 9 student."))