GCP CLI

gcp-cli Best Practices

The gcloud CLI is your primary interface for Google Cloud. These guidelines ensure your gcloud scripts and commands are reliable, secure, and easy to maintain, adhering to Google's own Shell Style Guide and modern cloud security principles.

1. Code Organization and Structure

Always structure your shell scripts for readability and robustness. Use bash and adhere to a consistent style.

• Use Bash with Strict Mode: Always start scripts with the correct shebang and enable strict mode for early error detection.

  • #!/usr/bin/env bash
  • set -euo pipefail ensures scripts exit on error, undefined variables, and pipe failures.
  • IFS=$'\n\t' prevents unexpected word splitting.

  ❌ BAD:

  #!/bin/sh
  # No strict mode, prone to silent failures
  gcloud compute instances list --format="value(name)" | while read instance; do
    echo "Processing $instance"
    # ... potentially fails silently if gcloud command exits non-zero
  done
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  #!/usr/bin/env bash
  set -euo pipefail
  IFS=$'\n\t'
  
  # Function for consistent error logging
  err() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')]: $*" >&2
  }
  
  main() {
    # Explicitly set project for clarity and safety
    local PROJECT_ID="your-gcp-project-id"
  
    # Example: Iterate and process instances
    gcloud compute instances list --project="${PROJECT_ID}" --format="value(name)" | while read -r instance; do
      echo "Processing instance: ${instance}"
      # Perform gcloud operation, check exit code if not using set -e for specific commands
      if ! gcloud compute instances stop "${instance}" --project="${PROJECT_ID}" --zone="us-central1-a" --quiet; then
        err "Failed to stop instance: ${instance}"
        exit 1 # Exit script on critical failure
      fi
    done
  }
  
  main "$@"
  

• Functions for Reusability: Encapsulate logic in functions. Use local for function-scoped variables.

  • Include clear function comments (description, globals, arguments, outputs, returns).

  ❌ BAD:

  # Global variable pollution, hard to debug
  PROJECT="my-project"
  gcloud config set project "${PROJECT}"
  # ... more script ...
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  # Function header comment as per Google Shell Style Guide
  ########################################
  # Sets the active gcloud project.
  # Globals:
  #   None
  # Arguments:
  #   $1: The project ID to set.
  # Returns:
  #   0 if successful, non-zero on error.
  #######################################
  set_gcp_project() {
    local project_id="$1"
    if ! gcloud config set project "${project_id}" --quiet; then
      err "Failed to set gcloud project to ${project_id}"
      return 1
    fi
    echo "Active gcloud project set to: ${project_id}"
    return 0
  }
  
  # Usage
  set_gcp_project "my-gcp-project-id"
  

2. Common Patterns and Anti-patterns

• Explicit Project and Zone/Region: Always specify --project, --zone, and --region flags. Relying on gcloud config for critical operations can lead to errors in different environments.

  ❌ BAD:

  # Relies on configured project/zone, brittle in automation
  gcloud compute instances create my-vm --machine-type=e2-medium
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  gcloud compute instances create my-vm \
    --project="my-gcp-project-id" \
    --zone="us-central1-a" \
    --machine-type="e2-medium"
  

• Structured Output Parsing: Use --format=json or --format=yaml with jq or yq for reliable output parsing. Avoid grep, awk, sed on human-readable output.

  ❌ BAD:

  # Fragile: depends on output format, breaks with gcloud updates
  gcloud compute instances list | grep "RUNNING" | awk '{print $1}'
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  # Robust: parses JSON output reliably
  gcloud compute instances list --project="my-gcp-project-id" --format="json" | \
    jq -r '.[] | select(.status == "RUNNING") | .name'
  

• Service Account Impersonation: For automation, prefer --impersonate-service-account over activating service account keys directly. This uses short-lived tokens and improves security.

  ❌ BAD:

  # Activates a service account key, long-lived credential risk
  gcloud auth activate-service-account --key-file=/path/to/key.json
  gcloud compute instances list # ...
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  # Impersonates a service account using current user's permissions
  gcloud compute instances list \
    --project="my-gcp-project-id" \
    --impersonate-service-account="my-service-account@my-gcp-project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com"
  

3. Performance Considerations

• Minimize API Calls: Batch operations where possible. Avoid calling gcloud commands inside tight loops if a single call can fetch all necessary data.

  ❌ BAD:

  # N+1 problem: many API calls for each instance
  gcloud compute instances list --project="my-gcp-project-id" --format="value(name)" | while read -r instance; do
    gcloud compute instances describe "${instance}" --project="my-gcp-project-id" --format="value(status)"
  done
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  # Single API call, process data locally
  gcloud compute instances list --project="my-gcp-project-id" --format="json" | \
    jq -r '.[] | "\(.name) \(.status)"' | \
    while read -r name status; do
      echo "Instance ${name} has status ${status}"
    done
  

4. Common Pitfalls and Gotchas

• Unquoted Variables: Always quote variable expansions to prevent word splitting and globbing.

  ❌ BAD:

  # If INSTANCE_NAME contains spaces or wildcards, this will fail
  INSTANCE_NAME="my instance"
  gcloud compute instances describe $INSTANCE_NAME
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  INSTANCE_NAME="my instance"
  gcloud compute instances describe "${INSTANCE_NAME}" --project="my-gcp-project-id"
  

• Interactive Prompts in Automation: Use --quiet (-q) for non-interactive scripts.

  ❌ BAD:

  # Will prompt for confirmation, blocking automation
  gcloud compute instances delete my-vm --project="my-gcp-project-id"
  

  ✅ GOOD:

  gcloud compute instances delete my-vm --project="my-gcp-project-id" --quiet
  

• Keep gcloud Updated: Regularly update your Cloud SDK to access the latest features and security patches.

  gcloud components update --quiet
  

5. Configuration Management

• Named Configurations: Use gcloud config configurations to manage distinct environments (e.g., dev, staging, prod).

  # Create a new configuration
  gcloud config configurations create staging
  # Activate and initialize it
  gcloud config configurations activate staging
  gcloud init --console-only # Use --console-only for non-browser init
  # Switch back to default
  gcloud config configurations activate default
  

• Store Configs Outside Source Control: Never commit gcloud configuration files or service account keys to source control.

6. Environment Variables

• Override Configuration: Use CLOUDSDK_ACTIVE_CONFIG_NAME to temporarily switch configurations without modifying the default.

  # Run a command against the 'staging' config without activating it globally
  CLOUDSDK_ACTIVE_CONFIG_NAME=staging gcloud compute instances list --format="value(name)"
  

• Disable Prompts: CLOUDSDK_CORE_DISABLE_PROMPTS=1 is equivalent to --quiet.

  # Non-interactive deletion via environment variable
  CLOUDSDK_CORE_DISABLE_PROMPTS=1 gcloud compute instances delete old-vm --project="my-gcp-project-id"
  

7. Logging

• Separate STDOUT and STDERR: Direct command output to STDOUT and informational/error messages to STDERR.

  #!/usr/bin/env bash
  set -euo pipefail
  IFS=$'\n\t'
  
  err() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')][ERROR]: $*" >&2
  }
  
  log() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z')][INFO]: $*"
  }
  
  log "Starting instance creation..."
  if ! gcloud compute instances create my-new-vm --project="my-gcp-project-id" --zone="us-central1-a" --machine-type="e2-small" --quiet; then
    err "Failed to create instance my-new-vm."
    exit 1
  fi
  log "Instance my-new-vm created successfully."
  

• Verbose Logging: Use --verbosity=debug for detailed gcloud command output during debugging.

8. Testing Approaches

• ShellCheck: Integrate ShellCheck into your CI/CD pipeline and local development workflow to catch common shell scripting errors.

  shellcheck your-script.sh
  

• Unit Testing: For complex shell scripts, use frameworks like shunit2 to write unit tests for individual functions.

• Integration Testing: Create a dedicated, isolated GCP project for integration tests. Use gcloud commands to provision resources, run tests, and then tear down resources. This ensures your scripts work against real GCP services.