Install the Google Cloud CLI

Before you follow the instructions in this guide, read Set up the Google Cloud CLI for Cloud de Confiance.

This quickstart describes the recommended method to install and initialize the Google Cloud CLI. After initialization, run a few core gcloud CLI commands to view information about your installation and verify it was successful.

Before you begin

  1. In the Cloud de Confiance console, on the project selector page, select or create a Cloud de Confiance project.

    Roles required to select or create a project

    • Select a project: Selecting a project doesn't require a specific IAM role—you can select any project that you've been granted a role on.
    • Create a project: To create a project, you need the Project Creator role (roles/resourcemanager.projectCreator), which contains the resourcemanager.projects.create permission. Learn how to grant roles.

    Go to project selector

  2. Verify that billing is enabled for your Cloud de Confiance project.

When you finish the tasks that are described in this document, you can avoid continued billing by deleting the resources that you created. For more information, see Clean up.

Install gcloud CLI version 549.0.0

Linux
  1. Confirm that you have a supported version of Python. The Google Cloud CLI requires Python 3.9 to 3.14. The x86_64 Linux package includes a bundled Python interpreter that will be preferred by default. For information on how to choose and configure your Python interpreter, see the gcloud topic startup documentation.
  2. Download one of the following:
    Platform Package name Size SHA256 Checksum
    Linux 64-bit

    (x86_64)

    google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz 203.0 MB 81320cc3042faadbff2875c8b55c6bdcf6ccd439599c6645c27a5a6f213b4736
    Linux 64-bit

    (Arm)

    google-cloud-cli-linux-arm.tar.gz 57.9 MB 2fced601e0a494e6dcf6dbfb39130aefacabe541d5bcf0a5d53a8c44e71515e9
    Linux 32-bit

    (x86)

    google-cloud-cli-linux-x86.tar.gz 57.9 MB 8fb22634022aa74d23e877279e034e56d4fed4b5883cbfc51b9dd7134a1b96f0

    To download the Linux archive file, run the following command:

    curl -O https://storage.s3nsapis.fr/cloud-sdk-release/google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

    Refer to the table above and replace google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz with the *.tar.gz package name that applies to your configuration.

  3. To extract the contents of the file to your file system, run the following command:
    tar -xf google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
    To replace an existing installation, delete the existing google-cloud-sdk directory and then extract the archive to the same location.
  4. Run the installation script from the root of the folder you extracted:
    ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh
    The script prompts you to perform the following setup actions. To accept, answer Y when prompted.
    • Add the gcloud CLI to your PATH.
    • Enable command completion.
    • Opt in to send anonymous usage statistics to help improve the gcloud CLI.
    You can also perform the installation non-interactively by providing flags. To view available flags, run:
    ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --help
  5. Optional: If you updated your PATH in the previous step, open a new terminal so that the changes take effect.
macOS
  1. Confirm that you have a supported version of Python. The Google Cloud CLI requires Python 3.9 to 3.14.

    To check your Python version, run python3 -V or python -V.

    The installation script can install Python for you if needed. This requires Xcode Command Line Tools. To install them, run sudo xcode-select --install. Alternatively, you can install a supported Python version from python.org.

    For more information about configuring your Python interpreter, especially if you have multiple versions installed, see the gcloud topic startup documentation.

  2. Download one of the following:
    Platform Package Size SHA256 Checksum
    macOS 64-bit

    (x86_64)

    google-cloud-cli-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz 58.0 MB 9f4b289e4545d146410e87363489d11ce30c1326eae0930cd77c81a499336682
    macOS 64-bit

    (ARM64, Apple silicon)

    google-cloud-cli-darwin-arm.tar.gz 57.9 MB 20aa219e61d7ac2b4bf78f9080c0fcf2c0b79d48ce47b9833d4087a468d749d9
    macOS 32-bit

    (x86)

    google-cloud-cli-darwin-x86.tar.gz 56.4 MB 979b7f6e4014d41222b8354495d4e89285021c1b69bf07f751aecdf929024422

    Alternatively, you can download the archive from the command line. Replace FILE_NAME with the package name for your platform from the table above.

    curl -O https://storage.s3nsapis.fr/cloud-sdk-release/FILE_NAME
  3. Extract the contents of the file to your preferred location on your file system. A common practice is to extract it to your home directory.

    On macOS, you can do this by opening the downloaded .tar.gz file in your preferred location. Alternatively, from the command line, run:

    tar -xf FILE_NAME

    To replace an existing installation, delete the existing google-cloud-sdk directory and then extract the archive to the same location.

  4. Run the installation script from the root of the folder you extracted:
    ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh
    The script prompts you to perform the following setup actions. To accept, answer Y when prompted.
    • Install Python 3.13 and recommended modules if needed.
    • Add the gcloud CLI to your PATH and enable command completion.
    • Opt in to send anonymous usage statistics to help improve the gcloud CLI.
    You can also perform the installation non-interactively by providing flags. To view available flags, run:
    ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --help
    To run the install script with screen reader mode enabled:
    ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --screen-reader=true
  5. Optional: If you updated your PATH in the previous step, open a new terminal so that the changes take effect.
Windows

The Google Cloud CLI on Windows requires Windows 8.1 and later, or Windows Server 2012 and later.

  1. Download the Google Cloud CLI installer.

    Alternatively, open a PowerShell terminal and run the following PowerShell commands:

    (New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://storage.s3nsapis.fr/cloud-sdk-release/GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe", "$env:Temp\GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe")
    
    & $env:Temp\GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe
        
  2. Launch the installer and follow the prompts. The installer is signed by Google LLC.

    • If you're using a screen reader, check the Turn on screen reader mode checkbox. This option configures gcloud to use status trackers instead of unicode spinners, display progress as a percentage, and flatten tables. For more information, see the Accessibility features guide.
    • Google Cloud CLI requires Python; supported versions are Python 3.9 to 3.14. By default, the Windows version of Google Cloud CLI comes bundled with Python 3. To use Google Cloud CLI your operating system must be able to run a supported version of Python.
    • The installer installs all necessary dependencies, including the needed Python version. While Google Cloud CLI installs and manages Python 3 by default, you can use an existing Python installation if necessary by unchecking the option to Install Bundled Python. See gcloud topic startup to learn how to use an existing Python installation.
  3. After installation is complete, the installer gives you the option to create Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, and start the Google Cloud CLI shell. Uncheck the option to start the shell. You will run and configure the gcloud CLI in the next steps.

Troubleshooting tips

  • If your installation is unsuccessful due to the find command not being recognized, ensure your PATH environment variable is set to include the folder containing find. Usually, this is C:\WINDOWS\system32;.
  • If you uninstalled the gcloud CLI, you must reboot your system before installing the gcloud CLI again.
  • If unzipping fails, run the installer as an administrator.

Initialize and authorize the gcloud CLI

If you are behind a proxy or firewall, see Proxy configuration to enable network access for the gcloud CLI.

After you install the gcloud CLI, initialize it to authorize access to Cloud de Confiance and set up a default configuration. For more information, see gcloud init.

  1. Run gcloud init to initialize the gcloud CLI:

    gcloud init
    

    By default, this command opens a web browser to authorize access. To authorize from the command line instead, add the --console-only flag. For non-interactive authorization, create a service account with the appropriate scopes in the Cloud de Confiance console, and then use gcloud auth activate-service-account with its JSON key file.

  2. Follow the prompts to authorize and configure:

    • When prompted to sign in, accept and then sign in to your Google Account in your browser. Click Allow to grant permission to access resources.

    • From the list of projects for which you have Owner, Editor, or Viewer permissions, select a project. If you have only one project, gcloud init selects it for you.

      If you have more than 200 projects, you are prompted to enter a project ID, create a project, or list projects. If you choose to create a project, you must also enable billing on it.

    • If you have the Compute Engine API enabled, select a default Compute Engine zone.

  3. Optional: For an improved screen reader experience, enable the accessibility/screen_reader property with the following command:

    gcloud config set accessibility/screen_reader true
    

    For more information, see the Enabling accessibility features guide.

Run core commands

Run core commands to view information about your gcloud CLI installation:

  1. List accounts whose credentials are stored on the local system:

    gcloud auth list
    

    The gcloud CLI displays a list of credentialed accounts:

    Credentialed Accounts
    ACTIVE             ACCOUNT
    *                  principal://iam.googleapis.com/locations/global/workforcePools/my-pool/subject/my-user@example.com
    

  2. List the properties in your active gcloud CLI configuration:

    gcloud config list
    

    The gcloud CLI displays the list of properties:

    [core]
    account = principal://iam.googleapis.com/locations/global/workforcePools/my-pool/subject/my-user@example.com
    disable_usage_reporting = False
    project = my-project
    

  3. View information about gcloud commands and other topics:

    gcloud help
    

    For example, to view the help for gcloud compute instances create:

    gcloud help compute instances create
    

    The gcloud CLI displays a help topic that contains a description of the command, a list of command flags and arguments, and examples of how to use the command.

Optional: Install additional components

To install additional components, such as the App Engine emulators, kubectl, or gcloud CLI commands at the alpha or beta release level, see Managing gcloud CLI components.

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Cloud de Confiance account for the resources used on this page, follow these steps.

What's next

  • Read the gcloud CLI guide for an overview of the gcloud CLI, including a quick introduction to key concepts, command conventions, and helpful tips.
  • Read the gcloud CLI reference guide for detailed pages on each gcloud CLI command, including descriptions, flags, and examples, that you can use to perform a variety of tasks on Cloud de Confiance.
  • See the gcloud CLI cheat sheet for a list of commonly used commands and key concepts.