u/vibroergosum

I have been going around in circles for the past day trying to get this configured. This used to be possible as of a month or so ago, however, I'm not quite sure if its possible anymore. I see a lot of conflicting information around whether or not you can use these credits for Image Generation. On top of that it seems there have been a lot of policy and roles/library name changes on Googles end that has made this especially difficult to deconstruct.

Long story short, GCP has a promo now that gives new users $300 in credits. I have attempted to use these credits via both a service account + api key as well as a secure JSON key file. Nothing has worked... I have run into 429, 403, 401, just about everything. Is this possible to do as of Jun 1 2026?

context around the approaches i have exhausted:

Attempt 1: Standard API Key (Default AI Studio Routing)

• Code Setup: self.client = genai.Client(api_key=api_key) (No Vertex params).
• GCP Setup: Key created in APIs & Services, restricted to "Gemini API".
• The Result: 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED
  • Error Detail: Quota exceeded for metric: ://googleapis.com, limit: 0, model: gemini-3.1-flash-image
  • The Issue: The unified SDK defaults to the AI Studio Developer backend, which treats the project as "Free Tier" and hardcodes the image generation limit to exactly 0. I assume if I upgraded this to a paid account, it would just charge my payment method and ignore the gcp/credits side of things.

Attempt 2: Service Account Bound API Key (GCP Enforcement)

• The Twist: My new GCP account has Secure by Default Organization Policies active. If I try to create an unbound key for Vertex AI, the UI disables it. It forced me to check "Authenticate API calls through a service account" and bind it to a Service Account with the Agent Platform User role.
• The Result: 401 UNAUTHENTICATED followed by 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED (Prepayment credits depleted)
  • Error Detail: Your prepayment credits are depleted. Please go to AI Studio... to manage your project and billing.
  • The Issue: Even though the key is backed by a GCP Service Account and a valid GCP billing account is active, routing without vertexai=True checks for an AI Studio Prepay balance, completely bypassing the $300 GCP Cloud credits.

Attempt 3: Service Account JSON Keys

• The Approach: Bypass API keys entirely. Attempted to generate a standard service account JSON credential file to pass via GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS.
• The Result: Blocked by GCP Console
  • Error Detail: Service account key creation is disabled. Enforced Organization Policies IDs: iam.disableServiceAccountKeyCreation
  • The Issue: Organization security policies strictly forbid downloading raw JSON key files.

Attempt 5: Application Default Credentials (ADC) via gcloud CLI

• The Approach: Ran gcloud auth application-default login --project=my-project on the host machine. Mounted the resulting application_default_credentials.json directly into the Docker/Celery container volume.
• Code Setup: self.client = genai.Client(vertexai=True, project="my-project", location="us-central1") (Letting the SDK natively grab the user context).
• GCP Permissions: My personal user email is an explicit Owner and has the Agent Platform User role assigned.
• The Result: 403 PERMISSION_DENIED
  • Error Detail: Permission 'aiplatform.endpoints.predict' denied on resource '//://googleapis.com' (or it may not exist).

https://preview.redd.it/03rai5yrnsxg1.png?width=1192&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea4ee9cded3be6d14d69b0a17386dc7a76fe4acf

A while back I started noticing my daughter wasn't really interested in books/reading. This kind of started to weigh on me and worried me more than I honestly expected it to… Reading is obviously foundational, and I didn't want her to miss out on what it can do for her early development.

 

The problem was that she'd only engage with whatever she was fixated on at that moment and that changed constantly. Whatever book I put in front of her, it was never quite that thing. I couldn't keep up, and honestly, nothing out there could either.

What I kept noticing though was how creative she was. The imagination was always there, she just needed the right outlet. That's what led me to the idea: instead of trying to find the perfect story for her, what if she could just build it herself? Her characters, her world, her story.

 

It worked. She got hooked. And watching her creativity take off in the process was something I wasn't fully prepared for.

 

The app lets parents and kids build illustrated children's books together — custom characters, original plots, AI-generated artwork, even audiobook narration so kids can listen back to stories they helped create. You can go quick (a full story in seconds) or dig into every detail if that's your thing. The stories live in your personal library, and you can share them with family and friends.

 

I'm not trying to blast this out everywhere. I'm looking for a small initial group of parents (around 50-60 or so) who are willing to try out the product before it's fully out and most importantly are willing to share honest feedback.  

The first 50 people who sign up will get a free story. Test the platform, create something just for you and your family. No strings attached, just tell me what you love/hate.

 

If this sounds like something you and your kid might actually enjoy, drop a comment or DM me and I'll get you set up. Would genuinely love to hear what resonates and what doesn't from real families.