# Google Releases Compact FunctionGemma Model

> The new 270-million-parameter model from Google DeepMind is fine-tuned specifically for reliable function calling and tool use.

Published by The Open Weights on Oct 8, 2025. Canonical: https://theopenweights.com/news/functiongemma-270m-bxym

## Key facts

- Company: Google DeepMind
- Model: FunctionGemma 270M IT
- Version: 270m-it
- Category: Text / LLM
- Modalities: Text / LLM
- License: Gemma (Open weights, commercial use allowed)
- Parameters: 270M
- Context window: 33K tokens
- Architecture: Gemma3ForCausalLM
- Precision: BF16
- Weights size: 0.5 GB
- Significance: notable
- Published: 2025-10-08
- Last verified: 2026-06-17
- Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/google/functiongemma-270m-it
- Canonical URL: https://theopenweights.com/news/functiongemma-270m-bxym

Google has introduced FunctionGemma, a new family of open-weights models specifically designed for function calling. The first release is a compact 270-million-parameter instruction-tuned model, aimed at developers building AI agents that need to reliably interact with external tools and APIs.

Function calling, or tool use, allows a large language model to go beyond generating text by invoking predefined code. This enables applications that can fetch real-time data, interact with databases, or control other software. Creating small, efficient models for this task is a significant step toward building more capable and practical AI systems.

## Why it Matters

Based on the Gemma architecture, FunctionGemma is optimized for performance in this specialized domain. Its small size makes it a compelling choice for on-device applications or scenarios where computational resources are limited. This provides an alternative to relying on larger, general-purpose models or proprietary APIs for tool-use capabilities.

For developers, a dedicated, open-weights function-calling model offers more control and cost-efficiency. It can be fine-tuned for specific toolsets and integrated directly into applications for tasks like building conversational agents that access real-time information or creating natural language interfaces for existing software.

The [FunctionGemma 270M IT model](https://huggingface.co/google/functiongemma-270m-it) is available now on Hugging Face under the Gemma license, which permits commercial use and distribution subject to its terms.

## Get the model

- [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/google/functiongemma-270m-it)

## Sources

- [google/functiongemma-270m-it](https://huggingface.co/google/functiongemma-270m-it) — Hugging Face, Oct 8, 2025

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Source: The Open Weights (https://theopenweights.com/). Aggregated and written by Claude, curated by humans. Cite as: "Google Releases Compact FunctionGemma Model", The Open Weights, Oct 8, 2025, https://theopenweights.com/news/functiongemma-270m-bxym