Open the request log on July 1 and search for an old Veo 3 API model ID. One result is enough to stop the victory lap. The main app may have moved while a Friday job, notebook, or retry queue did not. Google announced on June 15, 2026 that three Veo IDs would shut down on June 30. This checklist is for the caller everybody forgot.
Run One Veo 3.1 Control Test in APOB
Here is how I would run the audit. Use one plain page. Give every old call a row, add the owner, and attach one campaign-shaped test. Keep the downloaded file beside a yes-or-no result.
Follow the job from request to archive. Do not stop when a sample renders. A thumbnail worker that cannot read the new file is still a failed migration.
Write the rollback note early. After shutdown, rollback may mean restoring an approved render or pausing the queue. It cannot mean reviving a retired endpoint.
I checked the dates and IDs again on September 2, 2026 using Google’s Gemini API release notes and Veo API deprecation table. Start with that public record. Finish in the team’s own Gemini API Veo traffic logs.
Treat this as a Veo 3.1 API migration, not a find-and-replace. The article is an editorial checklist, not a Google benchmark or a promise of output parity.
Cutover Ledger I — Map retired calls and surviving routes
Cutover 01 — Dead identifiers in the request log
Pull seven to thirty days of traffic. Group it by the exact ID, endpoint, service account, region, and caller. Do not group by a friendly dashboard label.
Print the retired trio at the top: veo-2.0-generate-001, veo-3.0-generate-001, and veo-3.0-fast-generate-001 in the Gemini API. Literal strings beat memory.
There is one annoying trap. Google had already shut down two Veo 3 preview IDs in November 2025. Put that event on another line. An old alert is not proof that June’s stable-model cutover was done.
Cutover 02 — Veo 3.1 destinations to map
Google’s June notice points Gemini API users toward veo-3.1-generate-preview or veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview, while also mentioning GA Veo 3.1 models available through the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. These are not interchangeable strings. The platform, authentication path, quota, price, and supported controls belong in the migration decision.
Use Google’s current Veo 3.1 Gemini API guide to record the exact destination your code can call today. If the business is evaluating a lower-friction creator route, keep the APOB Veo 3.1 generator beside the API test, but label it as a separate workflow rather than claiming endpoint parity.
Cutover Ledger II — Trace the production chain
Cutover 03 — Endpoints, presets, and hidden defaults
Create one row per request builder. Capture the base URL, SDK and version, model ID, aspect ratio, duration, resolution, seed behavior if exposed, reference inputs, negative instructions, output count, polling interval, timeout, and download step. Copy values from a real request object; configuration files often omit defaults injected at runtime.
Then save one redacted request and response. Remove credentials and personal data, but keep status codes, operation IDs, timestamps, and filenames. This becomes the before state against which the Veo 3.1 API route is compared.
Cutover 04 — Automations that still call the old model
Search beyond the main application. Check scheduled jobs, no-code connectors, notebooks, spreadsheet scripts, prompt libraries, internal tools, retry queues, and examples copied into team documentation. A disabled weekly job can wake after the migration and become the only remaining caller of a dead model.
Ask owners to mark each dependency active, dormant, replaced, or retired. “No recent traffic” is not the same as deleted. Require a named owner and a removal date for dormant integrations.
Cutover 05 — What downstream exports assume
A model swap can change more than the request. List everything that reads the output: filename parsers, moderation review, audio extraction, caption timing, thumbnail generation, upload jobs, campaign trackers, and archives. Record the assumptions each stage makes about duration, dimensions, orientation, codec, audio, and file availability.
Google’s guide describes Veo 3.1 features such as portrait generation, first-and-last-frame control, reference images, video extension, native audio, and several output resolutions. Support depends on the specific route and operation. Validate only the combination you plan to use; do not convert a feature table into a universal promise.
Cutover Ledger III — Run one canary migration
Cutover 06 — Choose one representative clip
Choose a clip that resembles paid work without using an irreplaceable campaign. It should contain a recognizable subject, purposeful camera motion, one spoken or environmental sound cue, a clear final frame, and a crop used by the team. Avoid a beauty shot that passes even when identity, timing, or audio drifts.
The canary is one fixed brief. Store the prompt, reference assets, rights record, intended aspect ratio, duration, and acceptance notes. Run the old output from the archive beside the new Veo 3.1 result; never regenerate the baseline after the shutdown and pretend it is the same test.
Cutover 07 — Freeze the exact configuration
Create a configuration card with the request date, destination model ID, API or product route, account, region, SDK, parameters, input hashes, and output hashes. The card matters because Google’s Gemini API and enterprise surfaces can expose different model IDs and lifecycle rules.
For a visual comparison outside the API integration, run the same creative brief through APOB’s broader AI Video Generator. Treat the APOB result as an independent production option. It can help a creator team compare workflow friction, but it does not prove that Google’s endpoint migrated correctly.
Cutover 08 — Write the rollback card before switching
Define rollback while both paths are understandable. Name the traffic flag, owner, maximum error budget, queue-handling rule, asset retention period, and communication channel. Because the retired Veo 3 API models are shut down, rollback may mean returning to a stored approved render or disabling a job—not calling the old ID again.
Include the point of no return. Once downstream files have been replaced or published, restoring an endpoint setting will not restore the earlier creative. Keep source and output archives immutable through the evaluation window.
Cutover Ledger IV — Judge the replacement on two axes
Cutover 09 — Picture and motion inspection
Inspect identity, object count, composition, camera direction, action order, start and end frames, text, hands, edges, temporal flicker, and audio-picture alignment. Review at normal speed, half speed, and frame by frame around transitions. Log timecodes instead of writing “looks different.”
Use three approval frames: first clean composition, strongest motion, and final resolved frame. A result passes only when playback and those frames agree with the brief.
Cutover 10 — Operational integrity after the swap
Measure request acceptance, operation polling, completion, download, filename creation, moderation handoff, archive write, and downstream import. Record latency and cost from your own account rather than copying a generic number. Google’s current Gemini API pricing page is the external reference; the invoice and logs are the evidence for your workflow.
Run one deliberate failure: bad input, blocked generation, timeout, or cancelled job. Confirm that retries do not create duplicate billable work or overwrite a valid asset. A migration that succeeds only on the happy path is unfinished.
Cutover 11 — The acceptance line
Write a binary line: the named model accepts the frozen request; the returned file meets the required duration, crop, picture, and audio checks; all downstream steps complete; cost and latency stay inside the team’s declared limits; and the rollback card is usable. Leave subjective preferences in notes, not in the pass condition.
Have a second person reproduce the run from the ledger. If they cannot, the migration is knowledge held by one operator rather than a durable workflow.
Keep the rejected output too. Pair it with the exact failed criterion, not a vague dislike. A later model update may solve that defect, and the preserved failure gives the team a stable retest.
Cutover Ledger V — Move from audit to APOB
Cutover 12 — A low-friction internal route
The API migration solves a dependency problem. It does not decide the best place to make every future clip. Teams that need a creator-facing workflow can test Veo 3.1 through APOB, compare another video model, and keep the prompt, inputs, crop, and review criteria together without describing APOB as the owner of Google’s lifecycle.
Keep the boundary explicit: Google documents Google endpoints; APOB provides its own creation workflow. The operational advantage is optionality. When one provider changes access or model behavior, a documented brief can move without the team reconstructing intent from an old file.
Cutover 13 — What triggers the next monthly review
Recheck the official changelog, deprecation table, model guide, pricing, and your live logs every month. Trigger an immediate review when a model ID, endpoint, plan, supported control, rate limit, price, output format, or moderation behavior changes. Record “no change” as a dated result.
The final artifact is one page: retired IDs, chosen destination, dependency owners, canary configuration, picture and workflow verdicts, rollback rule, and next review date. That page—not a green HTTP response—is the proof that the Veo 3 API shutdown was handled.
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