gcloud

Print versions of gcloud, gsutil, bq, and the core libraries.

Show top-level help with the full list of command groups.

Show flags + examples for any gcloud command (path separators are spaces).

Read in-depth docs: `configurations`, `projections`, `filters`, `offline`, etc.

configurations; projections; filters; offline; access-control

First-run wizard — login, pick a project, pick a default region / zone.

Authorize gcloud to access GCP with your user credentials (browser OAuth flow).

--no-launch-browser; --no-activate

Set up Application Default Credentials — picked up by client libraries (Python / Node / Go).

--scopes <scope1,scope2>; --no-launch-browser

Activate a service account using a downloaded JSON key file.

List every credentialed account.

--format=yaml; --filter

Revoke credentials for one account or all.

<account>; --all

Print the currently active project.

Set the active project.

List every project you have access to.

--format='table(projectId,name,projectNumber)'; --limit

List every saved configuration (named profile).

--format=yaml

Create a new named configuration.

--no-activate

Switch to an existing configuration.

Use a configuration without modifying the persistent one (CI / scripts).

Set a per-property default (region / zone / project / account).

compute/region; compute/zone; container/cluster; compute/region us-central1

Choose output format: `json`, `yaml`, `table`, `csv`, `value`, `default`.

json; yaml; table; csv; value; default; get(<expr>):label

Server-side filter — see `gcloud topic filters` for the expression syntax.

name=foo; zone:us-*; status:RUNNING

Cap the result count (server-side pagination is unlimited otherwise).

List every service account in the active project.

--project; --format=json; --limit

Create a JSON key for a service account — needed by tools that don't support ADC.

--iam-account <sa>; --key-file-type json

Grant a role to a member at the project level.

--member=user:foo@bar / serviceAccount:foo / group:bar / domain:bar; --role=roles/owner

List every VM with zone, machine type, and status.

--project; --filter; --format=table; --limit

Create a VM with default image (Debian 12).

--zone; --machine-type; --image-family; --image-project; --preemptible; --tags; --labels; --metadata; --service-account; --scopes

Open an SSH session to a VM (auto-generates / persists keys under `~/.ssh/google_compute_engine`).

--zone; --ssh-key-file; --command <cmd>; --tunnel-through-iap; --internal-ip

Delete a VM (with or without disks).

--zone; --delete-disks=all / data / boot

List every persistent disk.

--filter='zone:us-*'; --format=table

Snapshot a persistent disk for backups or cloning.

--source-disk <name>; --source-disk-zone; --description

List every GKE cluster.

--region; --format=table; --limit

Merge the cluster's kubeconfig into `~/.kube/config` and switch context.

--region; --zone; --project; --internal-ip

Create an Autopilot or Standard GKE cluster.

--num-nodes; --machine-type; --region; --enable-autoscaling; --enable-autorepair; --cluster-version; --release-channel rapid|regular|stable

List buckets / objects (alias: `gcloud storage ls`).

-r; -l; -h; gs://; -d (list dirs only)

Upload or copy an object. `-r` for recursive directory copy.

-r; -m parallel; -c preserve cache-control; -p preserve ACL; -n no-clobber; -z <fmt> compress on upload

Two-way directory sync (parallel, fast). Source / destination can be local or `gs://`.

-r; -d delete extras; -c checksum-compare; -n dry-run; -x exclude

Create a new Cloud Storage bucket with the specified location / class.

--location; --default-storage-class; --uniform-bucket-level-access; --public-access-prevention

Run an ad-hoc SQL query against BigQuery.

--use_legacy_sql=false; --max_rows; --destination_table; --parameter; --format=json

Show metadata about a project / dataset / table / job.

--format=pretty; --schema; --view

Bulk-load a local CSV/JSON/Parquet file into a BigQuery table.

--source_format=CSV|JSON|PARQUET|AVRO|NEWLINE_DELIMITED_JSON; --autodetect; --replace; --skip_leading_rows=1

Build a container from the current directory using the default Cloud Build config.

--tag; --config <file>; --machine-type; --timeout; --gcs-source-staging-dir; --no-source-image-upload

Deploy to App Engine standard / flex.

--image-url; --version; --promote; --stop-previous-version

Publish a single message — useful for ad-hoc testing.

--message; --attributes; --ordering-key

Pull (and auto-ack) N messages from a subscription — great for sanity checks.

--limit; --auto-ack; --format=json

Update gcloud itself + every installed component to the latest release.

Install an optional gcloud component (kubectl, bq, gsutil, app-engine-python, ...).

<name>

Print the gcloud environment: python version, install location, active config.

--run-diagnostics; --log-level=debug

Open a browser to the public gcloud issue tracker with environment info pre-filled.

--log-level=debug