> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://devopscube.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to Setup Google Cloud gcloud CLI [Beginners Guide] - URL: https://devopscube.com/setup-google-cloud-clisdk/ - Published: 2024-03-28T05:55:00.000Z - Updated: 2025-03-15T10:23:13.000Z - Author: devopscube - Tags: GOOGLE CLOUD, #Migrated-1741795015845, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-03-12 15:57, #blog If you want to interact with Google Cloud through gcloud CLI or through code, you need to setup the gcloud CLI & SDK on your workstation. For example, if you want to write a python script that interacts with google cloud, you should have the gcloud sdk installed so that all the required packages for python will be available for your script. This tutorial will guide you through the steps for setting up Google Cloud gcloud CLI SDK on your workstation. Also, I have added some of the tips and tricks that I have learned while using `gcloud` CLI utility in my workstation. ## Install gloud CLI SDK ****Note:** If you're using a google cloud instance, SDK is installed by default. **Step 1:** Head over to [https://cloud.google.com/sdk/](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install?ref=devopscube.com)[ ](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/?ref=devopscube.com)and copy the link to the appropriate installation package. This package is common for all Linux distributions. For Windows users: Download the installation package from [https://cloud.google.com/sdk/windows](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install?ref=devopscube.com#windows) and install it directly on your systems. You will have the gcloud command available in the terminal. **Step 2:** Download the package. ``` wget https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-470.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz ``` **Step 3:** Untar the sdk package. ``` tar -xvf google-cloud-sdk* ``` **Step 4:** Install the SDK using the `install.sh` script. It will detect the appropriate package for your Linux distribution and installs it. ``` ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh ``` **Step 5:** Follow through the installation prompts and select the required options. It is pretty self-explanatory. It will take a couple of minutes for the setup. ![gcloud CLI installation](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-47-11.png) Click to view in HD **Step 6:** Restart the terminal or source the **.bashrc or .zshrc** file based on the shell profile preference you chose during the installation. ``` source ~/.bashrc source ~/.zshrc ``` If you dont open a new terminal session or source the relevant shell profile, you might see the following error. ``` -bash: gcloud: command not found ``` **Step 7:** Now, to validate the installation, open a new terminal session and execute the `gcloud` command. ``` $ gcloud --version Google Cloud SDK 470.0.0 bq 2.1.2 core 2024.03.22 gcloud-crc32c 1.0.0 gsutil 5.27 ``` ### Configuring gcloud CLI With Google Project Now that we have the SDK installed, we need to configure the Google cloud SDK to talk to a specific project. We use the `gcloud` utility from the installed SDK for CLI based google cloud access. Follow the steps given below to configure `gcloud` with a specific google project. **Step 1:** Initialise the project configuration using the following command. ``` gcloud init --console-only ``` **Step 2:** You will see the following prompt. Select "Y". ``` To continue, you must log in. Would you like to log in (Y/n)? Y ``` ![google cloud sdk auth](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-7-34.png) Click to view in HD Copy and paste the URL in the browser. Then log in to your google cloud account and grant permissions to access google cloud resources. You will see a page with a token. Copy the token and enter in the terminal. Now you will be logged in, and you can select the project that you want to set as default, as shown in the image below. ![google cloud SDK project configuration.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-8-30.png) Click to view in HD Like this, you can add [multiple gcloud configurations](https://devopscube.com/setup-google-cloud-clisdk/) if you work with multiple google cloud accounts. You can switch between different accounts. I have explained this in the next section. ## gcloud CLI SDK Auth Config Location To know all the configuration location of gcloud CLI SDK, execute the following command. ``` gcloud info ``` ![default google cloud SDK configurations locations](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-12-19.png) Click to view in HD All the SDK configs get stored in the `.config` folder in your workstation home location. If I run a tree from the `.config` folder, this is what I have. The JSON files under legacy\_credentials have the `client id `and `client secret` to connect to the google cloud account. ![gcloud credentials location path](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-11-22.png) ## Validate gcloud CLI Authentication Now that we have a valid cloud configuration, let's run some basic `gcloud` CLI commands to verify the installation. **Step 1:** List the credential account. ``` gcloud auth list ``` In my case, I have two google cloud accounts configured in my workstation. So it lists two accounts, and there is a `*` in the active account. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-10-26.png) When you have multiple `gcloud` accounts, you can switch between accounts using the following command ``` gcloud config set account account@devopscube.com ``` **Step 2:** To view your default `gcloud` configs of the active configuration, use the following command. ``` gcloud config list ``` You can also manually change the configuration by editing the config file from the `~/.config/gcloud/configurations` folder. Sometimes when you have multiple accounts configured, there could be a mismatch between activated account and active configuration. To solve this, first list the configruations. ``` gcloud config configurations list ``` ![list available gcloud configurations](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-13-21.png) Click to view in HD If there is a mismatch, you can activate the correct configuration using the following command, assuming you activate the default configuration. ``` gcloud config configurations activate default ``` **Step 3:** To list all the `gcloud` commands, use the following command. ``` gcloud help ``` ## gcloud Cheat Sheet Well, I don't have any cheat sheet for `gcloud`. However, there is a cool `gcloud` cheat sheet command which displays the gcloud cheat sheet. ``` gcloud cheat-sheet ``` Also you can use the [cheat sheet from google cloud documentation](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/cheatsheet?ref=devopscube.com). ## Other gcloud Components When you install the google SDK, only the core google cloud libraries get installed. But there are other components that are part of google cloud sdk. For example `kubectl`. A utility required to interact with Google [Kubernetes cluster](https://devopscube.com/setup-kubernetes-cluster-kubeadm/). To list all the available components execute the following command. ``` gcloud components list ``` ![list of gcloud components](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-14-32.png) Click to view in HD ## Updating gcloud CLI Components Updating gcloud CLI is pretty simple. Use the following one-line to update gcloud components. ``` gcloud components update ``` ## Create a Google Compute Instance Using CLI This section is only optional. If you want to have a little hands-on with the gcloud command-line utility, you can follow this section to create a compute instance, access it, and then delete it. To start with, we will create a instance using the CLI. **Step 1:** Get the list of images using the following command. ``` gcloud compute images list ``` ![gcloud list compute instance images from google cloud](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-15-22.png) Click to view in HD **Step 2:** The following command will create an f1 micro ubuntu instance with the ubuntu image from the highlighted image family. ``` gcloud compute instances create devopscube-demo-instance \ --image centos-7-v20170523 \ --image-project centos-cloud --set-machine-type f1-micro --zone us-central1-a ``` There are so many flags associated with instance creations. Refer to [this official documentation](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/instances/create?ref=devopscube.com) for more information on the flags. **Step 3:** To connect the instance via ssh, just execute the following command. The `gcloud` command will automatically create the ssh key in your \~/.ssh folder if it doesn't exist and connects to your instance. ****Security Note:** Do not deploy any public images in enterprise accounts even if you have permissions. Always use security-approved images in enterprise accounts to stay out of trouble. gcloud compute ssh (instance-name) For example, ``` gcloud compute ssh devopscube-demo-instance ``` **Step 4:** Delete the created instance using the following command. ``` gcloud compute instances delete (instance name) ``` For example, ``` gcloud compute instances delete devopscube-demo-instance ``` ## Conclusion In this blog I have covered the steps to setup google cloud SDK and using it with gcloud CLI Hope it helped or you might have more tips that can add value to the existing content. Either way, please drop a comment.