docs(gemini): document embedding-model filtering and validation errors

[ashrees]

Fixes #8971.

The Google Gemini provider page (docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx, which feeds the OpenClaw, Hermes, and Deep Agents variants) was missing two pieces of information that exist in the product:

1. Validation section: now notes that when NemoClaw reads the native Google model catalog, it keeps only models that support generateContent — embedding-only models are filtered out and never appear as onboarding choices (per the filter in src/lib/inference/provider-models.ts).
2. New Troubleshooting section: documents every model-validation failure message emitted by the implementation, with conservative cause/resolution notes:
   • Could not validate model against https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models: {reason}
   • Model '{model}' is not available from Google Gemini. Checked https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models.
   • Unexpected Gemini model catalog response: expected a top-level models array
   • Gemini model catalog pagination repeated page token '{token}'
   • Gemini model catalog pagination exceeded {count} pages
   • Onboard inference smoke check failed.

Every documented string was taken directly from src/lib/inference/provider-models.ts and src/lib/inference/onboard-probes.ts. Style follows WRITING.md (plain-language principles).

Documentation Writer Review

• Documentation writer subagent reviewed the completed changes
• Result: docs-updated
• Evidence: docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx and src/lib/inference/provider-models.test.ts — independently reviewed the complete diff at fcf909e0d against base f58a07f01. The review covered issue [All Platforms][Docs] Google Gemini provider pages missing embedding-only model filter and troubleshooting documentation #8971, current Gemini catalog behavior for omitted, null, and non-array models values, the three substantive behavior tests, writing rules, documentation style, route-style links, and the OpenClaw, Hermes, and Deep Agents guide variants. Every merge commit in the PR’s first-parent history matches its computed merge tree. npm run docs passed with 0 errors and 2 unrelated existing warnings. The focused provider-model tests passed with 27 tests passing. git diff --check passed.
• Agent: Codex Desktop

Signed-off-by: ashrees asies.magar@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Prekshi Vyas prekshiv@nvidia.com

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Model selection now excludes embedding-only models that cannot generate content.

• Documentation

  • Added troubleshooting guidance for catalog access issues, unavailable or malformed models, pagination failures, and inference smoke-check failures.

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---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The Gemini inference documentation explains generateContent model filtering and adds troubleshooting guidance for catalog validation, pagination, endpoint responses, and inference smoke-check failures.

Changes

Gemini documentation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Add Gemini filtering and troubleshooting guidance docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx	Documents exclusion of embedding-only models and remediation for catalog access, malformed models, pagination failures, OpenAI-compatible responses, and inference smoke-check failures.

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~5 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 97546

This PR updates Gemini documentation without changing product behavior, so no actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks and review.

Possibly related PRs

• NVIDIA/NemoClaw#9155: Documents the same Gemini catalog filtering and model-validation troubleshooting.

Suggested labels: area: docs, area: providers, chore

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The documentation covers embedding-only model filtering and the requested Gemini catalog and unavailable-model troubleshooting requirements in issue [#8971].
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The documented pagination, endpoint, and smoke-check guidance supports the linked issue's troubleshooting scope and introduces no unrelated changes.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes the documentation changes for Gemini embedding-model filtering and validation errors.

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx`:
- Around line 55-56: Update the Gemini model catalog pagination diagnostics in
the documentation to match the implementation: describe repeated nextPageToken
detection without claiming the same page was returned or that the condition is
usually transient, and use the emitted “exceeded <page-count> pages” format
while identifying GEMINI_MODEL_CATALOG_MAX_PAGES as the limit.

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[github-actions]

PR Review Advisor — No blocking findings reported

Advisor assessment: No blocking advisor findings reported
Next action: No advisor follow-up needed.
Findings: 0 blockers · 0 warnings · 0 suggestions

Model lanes

• GPT-5.6 Terra (primary): Completed · high confidence · 0 blockers · 0 warnings · 0 suggestions
• Nemotron 3 Ultra (second opinion): Failed after a partial review · low confidence · 0 blockers · 0 warnings · 0 suggestions

Second-opinion terminology and E2E selections are advisory. Live E2E does not run automatically for pull requests.

3 semantic terminology decisions

Terminology decisions are advisory. They affect the assessment only when a separate finding identifies concrete semantic impact.

• justified — embedding-only model at docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx:48: Keep the term with the stated `generateContent` contrast.
• justified — native Google model catalog at docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx:47: Keep the modifier because it distinguishes the catalog from the inference endpoint.
• established — onboarding choice at docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx:48: Keep the established repository term.

E2E guidance

Advisory only. A maintainer can dispatch the default E2E suite for the commit under review.

Recommended E2E: None

Workflow run details

This automated review informs maintainers. Warnings and suggestions do not require a response. A maintainer decides whether to merge.

[prekshivyas]

Blocking: commit bc3be47 is cryptographically unsigned and does not appear as Verified on GitHub (verification reason: unsigned). The Signed-off-by footer alone does not satisfy NemoClaw's requirement that every commit in a contributor PR appear Verified. Please replace it with compliant signed history. If the published branch cannot be rewritten, open a fresh branch and PR with compliant history.

This PR also substantially overlaps #9155, which is already open for #8971 and changes the same Gemini provider documentation. Please coordinate with that PR and consolidate the work rather than maintaining duplicate implementations; close this PR as a duplicate or clearly limit it to non-overlapping changes.

[ashrees]

Updated: the branch now contains a single cryptographically signed commit (Verified), and the review feedback on the pagination error wording has been applied (exact emitted strings used, unsupported claims removed).

[prekshivyas]

Reviewed exact head 298b1f065098c1bc06774c8315dbb908c152879c.

The replacement commit is GitHub Verified and the pagination wording now matches the emitted count form. Three blockers remain:

1. The PR body has no Signed-off-by: declaration. NemoClaw requires both a contributor declaration in the PR description and GitHub-verified commits.

2. Issue #8971 explicitly requires troubleshooting for Could not validate model against https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models: {reason} and Model '{model}' is not available from Google Gemini. Checked https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models. This page documents different catalog-shape, pagination, generic endpoint, and smoke-check diagnostics but neither requested model-validation message.

3. This remains an independent duplicate of #9155 on the same issue and provider page. The repository comparator found neither PR eligible: #9155 covers all issue criteria but contains an unverified commit; this PR has compliant commit verification but currently fails the PR-body DCO and issue-coverage gates. Please coordinate on one compliant, complete PR rather than leaving two overlapping implementations open.

Because this is documentation-only, the final selected head also needs the required exact-head documentation-writer receipt covering the writing rules and documentation style.

[ashrees]

All three items addressed at head 9e69472:

1. Signed-off-by: declaration added to the PR body.
2. Both issue-requested messages are now documented verbatim from src/lib/inference/provider-models.ts (lines 343/353): Could not validate model against https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models: {reason} and Model '{model}' is not available from Google Gemini. Checked ... — plus the filtering note that explains why embedding-only models trigger the second message.
3. The head commit is GitHub-verified (SSH signature), so this PR is now both compliant and complete on the issue criteria.

[prekshivyas]

Reviewed exact head 975460b35e7abc55b13818f2e0606b61b5c070db.

The contributor-facing documentation work is complete at this head: the PR-body DCO declaration is valid, all four commits are GitHub Verified, the exact-head documentation-writer receipt is present, CodeRabbit has no unresolved thread, and the provider page now covers the issue-required model-validation errors plus the current catalog-shape and pagination diagnostics. The duplicate comparator prefers this implementation over #9155 because #9155 still contains unverified contributor history.

I cannot approve this head under the repository's trusted gate yet. The exact SHA retains an earlier dco-check: FAILURE and commit-lint: CANCELLED record even though the visible current runs pass; rerunning the original DCO workflow still evaluates its original pre-fix event payload and fails. The checker also classifies the changed MDX page as a risky file without a test file. No additional documentation edit is requested, and a placeholder test should not be added merely to satisfy that coarse heuristic. A maintainer needs to resolve or explicitly waive these repository-gate artifacts before approval.

[prekshivyas]

I reviewed exact head 2496a2621f7333592e1a8a41870009583affe776 after the branch merge.

The PR-specific commits and documentation blob are unchanged, the exact-head documentation-writer receipt is now present, all visible checks are green, DCO is present, and all five commits are GitHub Verified. The earlier historical dco-check and commit-lint artifacts no longer block this head. I found no new documentation or issue-coverage defect, and this remains the preferred complete implementation over #9155.

Maintainer approval is still blocked by the repository's trusted gate for two exact-head reasons:

• the PR base is 996fc263473efdf81c00aa7dc5f8b768ac65a338, behind current main at 302e00dab158e5bfd6362a63778bf9247d7bac7a; refresh the branch and then refresh the exact-head documentation receipt if the head changes;
• the gate classifies docs/inference/use-google-gemini.mdx as a risky inference path while finding no test file in this documentation-only diff. The independent review ran 52 focused provider/model tests and the docs build, but the trusted checker does not consume that external evidence. A placeholder test should not be added solely to satisfy the path heuristic; this needs maintainer resolution or an appropriate repository-gate change.

I am therefore leaving the existing changes-requested state in place without asking for another documentation edit.

[senthilr-nv]

Approved at exact commit fcf909e. The complete diff matches accepted issue #8971: Gemini generateContent filtering, null and malformed catalog handling, exact user guidance, and focused source tests agree. Security review found no sensitive-path issue. The documentation receipt is current, CodeRabbit and PR Review Advisor report no blocking findings, contributor compliance passes, and all 39 current checks pass. This is the eligible implementation compared with #9155; do not merge both.

Resolved by additive repairs through fcf909e. Current CI and independent review pass.

Resolved by additive repairs through fcf909e. Current CI and independent review pass.

[cv]

Approved after additive documentation and regression-test repairs. The maintainer gate passes, current CI is green, and the independent documentation and security review found no remaining blocker.

[cv]

Maintainer CI exception: the Nemotron advisor failed twice in its own required-tool protocol and produced no code finding. The Terra advisor, CodeRabbit, independent documentation and security review, all substantive CI checks, and the maintainer gate pass at fcf909e. I accept the Nemotron non-success as unrelated to this PR for merge. Evidence: https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/actions/runs/31863059770