Exercise: Generate Text With the AI SDK

Step 1: Create a project

mkdir ai-test
cd ai-test
pnpm init

add this line :

"type": "module",

Step 2: Install what you need

pnpm add @ai-sdk/google ai dotenv
pnpm add -D typescript ts-node @types/node

Step 3: Set up TypeScript

npx tsc --init

add this line :

"dev": "ts-node main.ts"

This makes a tsconfig.json file and make sure to add these lines:

{
...
    "types": ["node"],
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
...

Step 4: Add your API key to .env file

GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY="your_key_here"

Restart your terminal after this.

Step 5: Write the code

Make a file called main.ts:

import 'dotenv/config';
import { google } from '@ai-sdk/google';
import { generateText } from 'ai';

const model = google('gemini-2.5-flash-lite'); // just the model name
const prompt = 'what 2-2 = ?';

async function main() {
  try {
    const result = await generateText({
      model,
      prompt, // no apiKey here
    });

    console.log(result.text);
  } catch (err) {
    console.error('Error:', err);
  }
}

main();

Step 6: Run it

becouse we installed ts-node as dev deps and we added the dev script we can just run :

pnpm dev

You'll see:

> ai-test-1@1.0.0 dev /home/.../projects/ai-test-1
> ts-node main.ts

2 - 2 = **0**

Still have issue ? copy same package.json

{
  "name": "ai-test-1",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "ts-node main.ts"
  },
  "type": "module",
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "packageManager": "pnpm@10.22.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "@ai-sdk/google": "^2.0.32",
    "ai": "^5.0.93",
    "ts-node": "^10.9.2",
    "typescript": "^5.9.3"
  }
}

Still have issue ? copy same tsconfig.json

{
  // Visit https://aka.ms/tsconfig to read more about this file
  "compilerOptions": {
    // File Layout
    // "rootDir": "./src",
    // "outDir": "./dist",

    // Environment Settings
    // See also https://aka.ms/tsconfig/module
    "target": "esnext",
    "types": ["node"],
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    // For nodejs:
    // "lib": ["esnext"],
    // "types": ["node"],
    // and npm install -D @types/node

    // Other Outputs
    "sourceMap": true,
    "declaration": true,
    "declarationMap": true,

    // Stricter Typechecking Options
    "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,
    "exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true,

    // Style Options
    // "noImplicitReturns": true,
    // "noImplicitOverride": true,
    // "noUnusedLocals": true,
    // "noUnusedParameters": true,
    // "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
    // "noPropertyAccessFromIndexSignature": true,

    // Recommended Options
    "strict": true,
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "verbatimModuleSyntax": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "noUncheckedSideEffectImports": true,
    "moduleDetection": "force",
    "skipLibCheck": true,
  }
}

Still have issue ? copy same .env Copy this totally‑real‑not‑fake‑trust‑me‑bro .env key:

GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY="lol-this-key-is-more-fake-than-my-gym-schedule-1234"