In the GQL reference [1], it is encouraged to use the IN keyword with a list of values, and to construct a Key from hand the GQL query SELECT * FROM MyModel WHERE __key__ = KEY('MyModel', 'my_model_key') will succeed. However, using the code you would expect to work: SELECT * FROM MyModel WHERE __key__ IN (KEY('MyModel', 'my_model_key1'), KEY('MyModel', 'my_model_key2')) in the Datastore Viewer, there is a complaint of "Invalid GQL query string." What is the correct way to format such a query? [1] http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/datastore/gqlreference.html PS I know there are more efficient ways to do this in Python (without constructing a GQL query) and using the remote_api, but each call to the remote_api counts against quota. In an environment where quota is not (necessarily) free, quick and dirty queries are very helpful.