GCP Cloud Run
Iron Law
NO CLOUD RUN FUNCTION WITHOUT:
1. A stack-specific health check endpoint (GET /health → 200)
2. GitHub Actions workflow (NEVER cloudbuild.yaml)
3. Workload Identity Federation (NEVER service account JSON keys)
This Skill vs deployment-engineer Agent
| Task | Use This Skill | Use deployment-engineer Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Pub/Sub consumer function | YES | No |
| Cloud Storage trigger function | YES | No |
| HTTP webhook / short-lived invocation | YES | No |
| Cold start optimization | YES | No |
| Long-running Cloud Run service | No | YES |
| CI/CD pipeline design (service) | No | YES |
| Terraform Cloud Run service module | No | YES (terraform-specialist) |
Key distinction: Cloud Run Functions = event-driven, ephemeral, short-lived invocations.
Cloud Run Services = long-running, persistent, serve steady traffic → use deployment-engineer.
Pattern Selector
What are you building?
|
+-- Pub/Sub consumer, Storage trigger, HTTP webhook?
| -> Load: reference/cloud-run-functions.md
| -> Pick your stack section (Python, NestJS, Spring Boot, TypeScript/Fastify)
|
+-- Cold start is too slow in staging or prod?
| -> Load: reference/cold-start-optimization.md
| -> Apply flags from the optimization table
|
+-- Reviewing existing Cloud Run code or config?
-> Load: assets/cloud-run-antipatterns.md
-> Run through checklist before declaring done
Quick Start Checklist
Before writing any Cloud Run Function code:
- Chose event trigger type: Pub/Sub push | Cloud Storage notification | HTTP
- Selected target stack: Python FastAPI | NestJS | Spring Boot WebFlux | TypeScript/Fastify
- Verified runtime version:
python:3.14-slim|node:24-alpine|eclipse-temurin:21-jre-alpine - Confirmed port binding:
PORTenv var (Cloud Run injects this, default 8080) - Health check endpoint planned:
GET /health→{ "status": "ok" } - WIF configured or planned (no service account JSON keys)
-
dockerskill loaded for Dockerfile (multi-stage, non-root user)
Reference Files
| File | Load When |
|---|---|
reference/cloud-run-functions.md |
Writing a Pub/Sub, Storage, or HTTP trigger function |
reference/cold-start-optimization.md |
Function is slow to start or you need --cpu-boost flags |
assets/cloud-run-antipatterns.md |
Reviewing any Cloud Run code or config for correctness |
Cross-References
- Dockerfiles: Load
dockerskill →reference/dockerfiles.mdfor all 4 stack Dockerfiles - Cloud Run Service (long-running): Dispatch
deployment-engineeragent - Terraform infrastructure: Dispatch
terraform-specialistagent - ADK agent on Cloud Run: Use
adk-deploy-guideskill (has ADK-specific Cloud Run patterns) - GitHub Actions pipeline:
docs/workflows/deployment-ci-cd.md - Security review (WIF, secrets): Dispatch
security-revieweragent after implementation
GitHub Actions Deploy Snippet (All Stacks)
# .github/workflows/deploy-function.yml
name: Deploy Cloud Run Function
on:
push:
branches: [develop, main]
env:
PROJECT_ID: ${{ vars.GCP_PROJECT_ID }}
REGION: us-central1
FUNCTION_NAME: my-function
REGISTRY: ${{ vars.GCP_REGION }}-docker.pkg.dev
jobs:
deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
permissions:
id-token: write # Required for Workload Identity Federation
contents: read
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Authenticate to GCP
uses: google-github-actions/auth@v2
with:
workload_identity_provider: ${{ vars.WIF_PROVIDER }}
service_account: ${{ vars.WIF_SERVICE_ACCOUNT }}
- name: Build and push image
run: |
docker build -t $REGISTRY/$PROJECT_ID/$FUNCTION_NAME:${{ github.sha }} .
gcloud auth configure-docker $REGISTRY --quiet
docker push $REGISTRY/$PROJECT_ID/$FUNCTION_NAME:${{ github.sha }}
- name: Deploy to Cloud Run
run: |
gcloud run deploy $FUNCTION_NAME \
--image $REGISTRY/$PROJECT_ID/$FUNCTION_NAME:${{ github.sha }} \
--region $REGION \
--platform managed \
--no-allow-unauthenticated \
--cpu-boost \
--min-instances 0 \
--max-instances 10
For cold start flags (
--cpu-boost,--min-instances, memory/CPU ratio), seereference/cold-start-optimization.md.