GCP Setup¶

Detailed guide for setting up Google Cloud Platform for Cloud Agent.

Prerequisites¶

A GCP account with billing enabled
A GCP project
Google Cloud SDK installed

Initial Setup¶

1. Install Google Cloud SDK¶

macOSLinux

brew install google-cloud-sdk

curl https://sdk.cloud.google.com | bash
exec -l $SHELL

2. Authenticate¶

gcloud auth login

This opens a browser for OAuth authentication.

3. Create or Select Project¶

# List existing projects
gcloud projects list

# Set existing project
gcloud config set project YOUR_PROJECT_ID

# Or create new project
gcloud projects create cloud-agent-project
gcloud config set project cloud-agent-project

4. Enable Required APIs¶

gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com

5. Set Default Region/Zone¶

gcloud config set compute/region us-central1
gcloud config set compute/zone us-central1-a

Service Account (Optional)¶

For advanced setups, create a service account:

# Create service account
gcloud iam service-accounts create cloud-agent \
  --display-name="Cloud Agent"

# Grant Compute Admin role
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding YOUR_PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:cloud-agent@YOUR_PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role="roles/compute.admin"

VM Permissions¶

The --permissions flag grants GCP access to your VM:

Compute Engine¶

ca --permissions compute git@github.com:org/repo.git

Allows: - List/create/manage Compute Engine instances - Access to instance metadata - Network operations

GKE (Kubernetes)¶

ca --permissions gke git@github.com:org/repo.git

Allows: - List/access GKE clusters - kubectl operations - Container Registry access

Cloud Storage¶

ca --permissions storage git@github.com:org/repo.git

Allows: - Read/write to Cloud Storage buckets - gsutil operations

Multiple Permissions¶

ca --permissions compute,gke,storage git@github.com:org/repo.git

Firewall Rules¶

Cloud Agent automatically creates firewall rules to:

Allow SSH (port 22) from your IP only
Block all other inbound traffic

To whitelist additional IPs:

ca --ip 192.168.1.100 git@github.com:org/repo.git

Cost Management¶

VM Costs¶

Machine Type	vCPUs	RAM	~Monthly Cost
e2-standard-2	2	8 GB	~$50
e2-standard-4	4	16 GB	~$100
e2-standard-8	8	32 GB	~$200

Cost Saving Tips¶

Stop when not using: ca stop
Use smaller machine types for simple tasks
Terminate when done: ca terminate
Set up billing alerts in GCP Console

Troubleshooting¶

"Permission Denied" Errors¶

# Re-authenticate
gcloud auth login

# Verify project access
gcloud projects describe YOUR_PROJECT_ID

"API Not Enabled"¶

gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com

"Quota Exceeded"¶

Request quota increase in GCP Console or use a different region.