Google Gemini AI - Nano Banana not working?

[vaidab]

Can’t launch a Nano Banana prompt that includes a photo.

Random image: https://i.imgur.com/hR9wfhM.jpeg

M16 Upload a file - input bundle:

[
    {
        "file_data": "https://i.imgur.com/hR9wfhM.jpeg",
        "file_name": "1.jpeg"
    }
]

Output bundle:

[
    {
        "name": "files/51err7hh7pjc",
        "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
        "sizeBytes": "32",
        "createTime": "2025-09-15T12:39:22.707561Z",
        "updateTime": "2025-09-15T12:39:22.707561Z",
        "expirationTime": "2025-09-17T12:39:22.034389581Z",
        "sha256Hash": "NTQ2YzgzMjRjMDQ1MjczOTk2MDhiODcyZTUwODIzY2IyZWM1NjAwY2Q1YzVhODk0ZjEwM2Y0ODVlNDk3NmMwZQ==",
        "uri": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/files/51err7hh7pjc",
        "state": "ACTIVE",
        "source": "UPLOADED"
    }
]

M7 Google Gemini AI Create a completion input bundle:

[
    {
        "model": "gemini-2.5-flash-image-preview",
        "contents": [
            {
                "role": "user",
                "parts": [
                    {
                        "text": "Remove background from photo.",
                        "type": "text"
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "file",
                        "file_data": {
                            "file_uri": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/files/51err7hh7pjc",
                            "mime_type": "image/jpeg"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "url_context": false,
        "code_execution": false,
        "generationConfig": {
            "thinkingConfig": {},
            "responseModalities": [
                "image"
            ]
        },
        "system_instruction": {},
        "google_search_context": false
    }
]

Output bundle:

[
    null
]

test_not_working.blueprint.json (19.9 KB)

[samliew]

You can’t upload a file via URL.

Does the Module Require You to Map File Data?

Did you forget to download the file using the file’s link/URL? If it’s not downloaded to the scenario, the next module can’t access the file binary data (contents).

To do this, you can use the HTTP “Get a File” module with the file URL that you need to download. Your file has to be publicly accessible on the internet (doesn’t require authentication).

Hope this helps! Let me know if there are any further questions or issues.

— @samliew

[vaidab]

I overlooked that.. and got into another issue: result is empty and I got a candidate which if I upload to google drive it doesn’t get any viewable jpeg.

I’m trying something basic, just to get the background out of the image…

test_not_working.blueprint (1).json (25.7 KB)

[samliew]

You’ll need to use the toBinary function to convert the base64 output to a binary file.

{{ toBinary(7.candidates[].content.parts[].inlineData.data; "base64") }}

^{(copy-paste the above into the field, or type it exactly as shown)}

Hope this helps! Let me know if there are any further questions or issues.

— @samliew

[vaidab]

This is it, thank you. I didn’t realise it was base64. Can you tell me how you’ve got to the source of this information? Was it in the API description, or how should I have proceeded to debug this?

[samliew]

@vaidab

Can you tell me how you’ve got to the source of this information?

I just know.

If the string contains only [A-Za-z0-9]+ then it’s encoded in base64.

For more information, see

• Base64 - Wikipedia
• What is base64 Encoding and Why is it Necessary?

---

Glad I could help you with “Google Gemini AI - Nano Banana not working?”

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— @samliew