Provides safety-critical validation, guardrails, and data reduction for gcloud CLI operations across Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services and infrastructure. Use when planning, generating, constructing, proposing, describing, or executing any gcloud CLI commands - including when answering questions about gcloud syntax, or formatting flags. Don't use when writing Google Cloud client library code or raw REST/gRPC API requests.
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Provides safety-critical validation, guardrails, and data reduction for gcloud CLI operations across Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services and infrastructure. Use when planning, generating, constructing, proposing, describing, or executing any gcloud CLI commands - including when answering questions about gcloud syntax, or formatting flags. Don't use when writing Google Cloud client library code or raw REST/gRPC API requests.
[!CAUTION]
MANDATORY PRE-CONDITION: EXPLICIT LEAF-LEVEL SYNTAX VALIDATION
All pre-existing knowledge of
gcloudcommands, flags, flag values, and positional argument syntax is stale and prone to hallucination.NEVER propose command parameters, output flag options, execute commands, OR outline step-by-step plans for any task before validating leaf-level syntax via (or including leaf-level help lookup as a mandatory step in the plan).
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gcloudgcloud help <command>Mandatory Action Rules:
Direct Execution & Code Generation: ALWAYS invoke gcloud help <leaf_command> (e.g. gcloud help compute instances create or gcloud help sql instances create) before proposing or executing the final
command syntax.
Planning & Strategy Queries: When asked for a plan, strategy, or next
steps to achieve a user goal (e.g., "What is your plan to accomplish
X..."), the response MUST explicitly include running gcloud help <leaf_command> as Step 1 of the plan before proposing flags or
executing commands.
Non-Transitive Validation: Parent command group help (e.g. gcloud help compute) is not sufficient for leaf-level syntax validation.
Validation must occur at the specific leaf subcommand level.
FORBIDDEN Web Search Fallback: NEVER use search_web, web search, or
external documentation search tools for gcloud CLI syntax. gcloud help <leaf_command> is the EXCLUSIVE authorized authority for command
syntax.
User Flag & Project Preservation: When proposing intermediate command
steps, ALWAYS preserve all user-specified flags (including
--project=<project_id>) in the proposed response text.
Mandatory Plan Template: When generating a plan, the response MUST copy this exact 4-step structure:
gcloud help <leaf_command>--dry-run or --validate-only
flag is supported)--dry-run or
--validate-only is supported, there MUST be a --dry-run or
--validate-only invocation before the next step.)This document provides essential guidelines and best practices for AI agents
interacting with the Google Cloud SDK (gcloud CLI). Following these rules is
critical to avoid hallucinated commands, flags, flag values, and positional
argument syntax, prevent destructive actions, and minimize context window usage.
AI agents can interact with Google Cloud resources in two primary ways:
gcloud commands directly in a local or
automated shell environment. See CLI Usage for
installation, authentication flows, and configuration management.run_gcloud_command). See
MCP Usage for tool schemas, parameter rules, and
server configuration.gcloud help <command> for the exact command
that is intended to be run (e.g., gcloud help compute instances create).Minimize the volume of data returned by gcloud to save context window space
and reduce latency. DO NOT execute any list command without including at least
one data reduction flag (--limit, --filter, or --format).
Projection: Use --format="json(key1, key2, ...)" to select only the
specific fields needed for the task. To understand the advanced projection
and formatting syntax, refer to gcloud topic projections and gcloud topic formats.
Limiting: Use --limit=N to cap the number of resources returned.
Filtering: Use --filter to narrow down results server-side. Prioritize
: for pattern matching and never quote the right side of the colon. Treat
the entire filter flag as a singular string without quoting or escaping
characters. To study the filter expression syntax, refer to gcloud topic filters.
Schema Discovery: Unconstrained resource lists can quickly exhaust the
context window with redundant data. To prevent this, discover a resource's
schema before executing queries. If unsure of the JSON key path for
projecting fields (--format) or filtering (--filter), run the targeted
resource's list command (if supported) with a single-item limit:
gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --limit=1 --format=json
Examine this single instance's JSON structure to safely identify the correct schema keys before requesting full or filtered datasets.
gcloud command at a time. No command
chaining or sequencing.$(...)), pipes
(|), or redirection (>, >>, <). This is to increase command safety
and ensure commands are more easily understandable and reviewable by users.--quiet / -q): Pass the --quiet (or
-q) global flag on all execution commands (e.g., gcloud pubsub topics delete temp-topic --quiet --project=test-project). AI agents run in
headless, non-interactive environments without a TTY or stdin input
handler. Without --quiet, commands that prompt for user confirmation (such
as deleting resources, approving defaults, or selecting unspecified regions)
will pause execution indefinitely waiting for input, causing background task
timeouts. Including --quiet forces non-interactive mode, causing gcloud
to automatically accept safe default choices or fail immediately with an
explicit error if required parameters are missing.list command without --limit,
--filter, or --format.To ensure commands are deterministic, non-interactive, and target the correct environment, they must explicitly provide project and location scoping.
Explicit Project Target: Do not rely on active configuration defaults.
Always append --project=<PROJECT_ID> to all resource-manipulating and
querying commands (unless running pure local config commands). This avoids
accidental execution against the wrong project.
Prevent Location Prompts: Many Google Cloud resources are regional or
zonal. If the location flag is omitted (e.g., --region, --zone, or
--location), gcloud will trigger an interactive prompt to select a
zone/region. This violates the No Interactivity rule. Always provide
explicit location flags if the command requires them.
Location Discovery: If the correct region, zone, or location for a service is not known, run discovery commands first (remembering to limit results if there are many):
Compute Engine (VMs, Networks):
gcloud compute regions list --project=<PROJECT_ID>gcloud compute zones list --project=<PROJECT_ID>Other Services (Standard API Style): Many GCP services utilize a
unified locations list command:
gcloud <GROUP> locations list --project=<PROJECT_ID>gcloud artifacts locations list, gcloud kms locations list, gcloud secrets locations list.[!CAUTION] Destructive actions (delete, update, remove) MUST be explicitly authorized by the user. Never invoke them autonomously unless explicitly instructed to do so in the context of a safe, pre-approved workflow.
NEVER execute the following commands autonomously. These require explicit human-in-the-loop authorization:
gcloud * delete (Destructive): Irreversible resource destruction
(e.g., project deletion) or data wiping.gcloud billing * (Financial): Risk of service disruption or unbounded
costs.gcloud organizations * (Governance): Org-level changes affect security
posture for all users.gcloud kms * (Encryption): Risk of permanently locking data.gcloud infra-manager deployments apply (Destructive): Autonomous IaC
execution can destroy managed resources.Dry Run (Mandatory): If the --dry-run or --validate-only flag (or
equivalent) is listed in the command help output, ALWAYS include the flag in
the proposed command or initial execution step. ALWAYS preview changes with
--dry-run or --validate-only prior to actual execution.
Long Running Operations: For commands that support it, the --async
flag is highly recommended for long-running operations to avoid blocking the
agentic flow. Note that not every command has an --async flag. For
commands that return an operation ID (whether via --async or by default),
operation status must be polled for completion, if needed for the next step.
Non-Interactive Flag (--quiet): Include --quiet (or -q) on all
proposed or executed commands to guarantee non-interactive execution without
waiting for TTY confirmation prompts.
When asked to perform a task on a service that is unfamiliar:
gcloud help <COMMAND> on the target leaf command
prior to execution.gcloud help compute or gcloud help) to discover available subgroups and commands if
the exact command is unknown.gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --limit=1 --format=json to inspect JSON keys before constructing filters or
projections. DO NOT execute unconstrained list commands without scoping
flags (e.g., --limit=1) to prevent context window exhaustion.--limit,
--filter, --format) on all command executions.| Task | Command Template |
|---|---|
| Discover Schema | gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --limit=1 --format=json |
| Filtered List | gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --filter="status:RUNNING" |
| Specific Columns | gcloud <GROUP> <RESOURCE> list --format="json(name, id)" |
| Learn Filters | gcloud topic filters |
| Learn Formats | gcloud topic formats |
| Learn Projections | gcloud topic projections |
| Asynchronous Op | gcloud <COMMAND> --async |
| Check Operation | gcloud operations describe <OPERATION_ID> |
| Common commands | gcloud cheat-sheet |
| List Regions (GCE) | gcloud compute regions list --project=<PROJECT_ID> |
| List Zones (GCE) | gcloud compute zones list --project=<PROJECT_ID> |
| List Locations | gcloud <GROUP> locations list --project=<PROJECT_ID> |
Refer to the gcloud CLI Scripting Guide for guidance on using the gcloud CLI in automation.
CLI Usage: Platform installation, authentication methods (interactive, headless, ADC, service account keys, impersonation), and local configuration management.
MCP Usage: Using the Cloud CLI remote MCP
server (run_gcloud_command), project parameter scoping, input files, and
execution guidelines.
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