Google announced new capabilities for Managed Agents in the Gemini API on Jul 07, 2026, introducing background execution, remote Model Context Protocol server integration, custom function calling, and credential refreshing across interactions. The company said the updates address developer feedback to help build production-ready autonomous agents.
Through the Gemini Interactions API, managed agents operate inside an isolated cloud sandbox to process reasoning, execute code, install packages, manage files, and fetch web information via a single endpoint call. To resolve issues with HTTP connections during long-running operations, Google added background execution support. Developers can pass a background parameter set to true, causing the API to return an interaction ID immediately so client applications can poll status, stream progress, or reconnect later while the task finishes remotely on the server.
Tools and custom execution
Google added direct connections to remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, allowing managed agents to access internal APIs or private databases without custom proxy middleware. Developers can combine an MCP server tool alongside built-in sandbox capabilities, such as Google Search and code execution, within the same interaction.
The Gemini API now supports custom function calling alongside sandbox tools using step matching. Built-in tools execute automatically on Google servers, whereas custom domain functions transition the interaction to require action from the client, allowing local business logic to run before sending results back to the agent in subsequent turns.
Credential refresh and setup
Google introduced network credential refreshing to handle short-lived API keys and expiring access tokens. Developers can rotate keys or refresh credentials by sending an existing environment ID paired with a new network configuration on a subsequent interaction. The sandbox retains its filesystem state, cloned repositories, and installed packages while updating the access rules immediately.
Code examples for the new features rely on the `@google/genai` JavaScript SDK. For AI coding agents, Google made the skill available via npx skills add google-gemini/gemini-skills --skill gemini-interactions-api, while Python and cURL implementations are located in the Antigravity agent documentation.
