Scripting with gcloud in GCP - Commands & Configuration

Introduction

Sometimes you want to automate tasks in Google Cloud instead of doing them by hand. Scripting with gcloud lets you write commands that run one after another to manage your cloud resources quickly and reliably.

When you want to create multiple virtual machines without clicking in the console each time

When you need to update firewall rules regularly based on changing needs

When you want to back up data from a storage bucket every day automatically

When you want to deploy an app and set up its environment in one go

When you want to check the status of your cloud resources and save the results

Commands

This command sets your active Google Cloud project so that all following commands apply to it.

Terminal

gcloud config set project example-project-123

Expected Output

Updated property [core/project].

This command creates a new virtual machine named example-vm in the specified zone with a medium machine type.

Terminal

gcloud compute instances create example-vm --zone=us-central1-a --machine-type=e2-medium

Expected Output

Created [https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project-123/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm].

NAME        ZONE           MACHINE_TYPE  PREEMPTIBLE  INTERNAL_IP  EXTERNAL_IP     STATUS

example-vm  us-central1-a  e2-medium                 10.128.0.2   34.68.123.45    RUNNING

→

--zone - Specifies the zone where the VM will be created

→

--machine-type - Defines the size and power of the VM

This command lists all virtual machines in your current project, so you can verify your VM was created.

Terminal

gcloud compute instances list

Expected Output

NAME        ZONE           MACHINE_TYPE  PREEMPTIBLE  INTERNAL_IP  EXTERNAL_IP     STATUS

example-vm  us-central1-a  e2-medium                 10.128.0.2   34.68.123.45    RUNNING

This command deletes the example-vm virtual machine without asking for confirmation because of the --quiet flag.

Terminal

gcloud compute instances delete example-vm --zone=us-central1-a --quiet

Expected Output

Deleted [https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project-123/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm].

→

--quiet - Skips confirmation prompts for automation

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: scripting with gcloud lets you automate cloud tasks by running commands in order without manual clicks.

Common Mistakes

Not setting the active project before running commands

Commands may run in the wrong project or fail because the project is not specified

Always run 'gcloud config set project your-project-id' before other commands

Forgetting to specify the zone when creating or deleting VMs

The command will fail or act on the wrong zone because zone is required for these operations

Always include the --zone flag with the correct zone value

Running delete commands without the --quiet flag in scripts

The script will pause waiting for confirmation, breaking automation

Use --quiet to skip confirmation prompts in scripts

Summary

Set the active project with 'gcloud config set project' to target your cloud resources.

Create and manage virtual machines using 'gcloud compute instances' commands with proper flags.

Use 'gcloud compute instances list' to check the status of your VMs.

Add the --quiet flag in scripts to avoid manual confirmation prompts during deletions.