Compute Engine client libraries

This page shows how to get started with the Cloud Client Libraries for theCompute Engine API. Client libraries make it easier to accessGoogle Cloud APIs from a supported language. Although you can useGoogle Cloud APIs directly by making raw requests to the server, clientlibraries provide simplifications that significantly reduce the amount of codeyou need to write.

Read more about the Cloud Client Librariesand the older Google API Client Libraries inClient libraries explained.


To follow step-by-step guidance for this task directly in the Google Cloud console, clickGuide me:

Guide me


Install the client library

C++

Follow theQuickstart.

C#

Install theGoogle.Cloud.Compute.V1package from NuGet.

For more information, seeSetting Up a C# Development Environment.

Go

go get cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1

For more information, seeSetting Up a Go Development Environment.

Java

If you are usingMaven, addthe following to yourpom.xml file. For more information aboutBOMs, seeThe Google Cloud Platform Libraries BOM.

<dependencyManagement><dependencies><dependency><groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId><artifactId>libraries-bom</artifactId><version>26.72.0</version><type>pom</type><scope>import</scope></dependency></dependencies></dependencyManagement><dependencies><dependency><groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId><artifactId>google-cloud-compute</artifactId></dependency></dependencies>

If you are usingGradle,add the following to your dependencies:

implementation'com.google.cloud:google-cloud-compute:1.90.0'

If you are usingsbt, addthe following to your dependencies:

libraryDependencies+="com.google.cloud"%"google-cloud-compute"%"1.90.0"

The older version of the Cloud Client Libraries for Java for Compute Engine is available as version 0.120.x or earlier in theMaven artifact. Versions 0.120.x and earlier of this library are forward-incompatible with later versions.

For more information, seeSetting Up a Java Development Environment.

Node.js

npm install @google-cloud/compute

The older version of the Cloud Client Libraries for Node.js for Compute Engine is available as version 2.5.x or earlier in thenpm package. Versions 2.5.x and earlier of this library are forward-incompatible with later versions.

For more information, seeSetting Up a Node.js Development Environment.

PHP

composer require google/cloud-compute

For more information, seeUsing PHP on Google Cloud.

Python

pip install --upgrade google-cloud-compute

For more information, seeSetting Up a Python Development Environment.

Ruby

gem install google-cloud-compute-v1

For more information, seeSetting Up a Ruby Development Environment.

Rust

cargo add google-cloud-compute-v1

For more information, seeGet started with Rust.

Set up authentication

To authenticate calls to Google Cloud APIs, client libraries supportApplication Default Credentials (ADC);the libraries look for credentials in a set of defined locations and use those credentialsto authenticate requests to the API. With ADC, you can makecredentials available to your application in a variety of environments, such as localdevelopment or production, without needing to modify your application code.

For production environments, the way you set up ADC depends on the serviceand context. For more information, seeSet up Application Default Credentials.

For a local development environment, you can set up ADC with the credentialsthat are associated with your Google Account:

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation,initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:

    gcloudinit

    If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  2. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

    gcloudauthapplication-defaultlogin

    You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

    If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

    A sign-in screen appears. After you sign in, your credentials are stored in the local credential file used by ADC.

Use the client library

The following example shows how to use the client library to list instances in aparticular zone. For more examples, seeUsing client libraries.

C#

usingGoogle.Cloud.Compute.V1;usingSystem;usingSystem.Collections.Generic;usingSystem.Threading.Tasks;publicclassListZoneInstancesAsyncSample{publicasyncTask<IList<Instance>>ListZoneInstancesAsync(// TODO(developer): Set your own default values for these parameters or pass different values when calling this method.stringprojectId="your-project-id",stringzone="us-central1-a"){// Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created// once, and can be reused for multiple requests.InstancesClientclient=awaitInstancesClient.CreateAsync();IList<Instance>allInstances=newList<Instance>();// Make the request to list all VM instances in the given zone in the specified project.awaitforeach(varinstanceinclient.ListAsync(projectId,zone)){// The result is an Instance collection.Console.WriteLine($"Instance: {instance.Name}");allInstances.Add(instance);}returnallInstances;}}

Go

import("context""fmt""io"compute"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"computepb"cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb""google.golang.org/api/iterator")// listInstances prints a list of instances created in given project in given zone.funclistInstances(wio.Writer,projectID,zonestring)error{// projectID := "your_project_id"// zone := "europe-central2-b"ctx:=context.Background()instancesClient,err:=compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)iferr!=nil{returnfmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %w",err)}deferinstancesClient.Close()req:=&computepb.ListInstancesRequest{Project:projectID,Zone:zone,}it:=instancesClient.List(ctx,req)fmt.Fprintf(w,"Instances found in zone %s:\n",zone)for{instance,err:=it.Next()iferr==iterator.Done{break}iferr!=nil{returnerr}fmt.Fprintf(w,"- %s %s\n",instance.GetName(),instance.GetMachineType())}returnnil}

Java

importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;importcom.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;importjava.io.IOException;publicclassListInstance{publicstaticvoidmain(String[]args)throwsIOException{// TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sampleStringproject="your-project-id";Stringzone="zone-name";listInstances(project,zone);}// List all instances in the given zone in the specified project ID.publicstaticvoidlistInstances(Stringproject,Stringzone)throwsIOException{// Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created// once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call// the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to// safely clean up any remaining background resources.try(InstancesClientinstancesClient=InstancesClient.create()){// Set the project and zone to retrieve instances present in the zone.System.out.printf("Listing instances from %s in %s:",project,zone);for(InstancezoneInstance:instancesClient.list(project,zone).iterateAll()){System.out.println(zoneInstance.getName());}System.out.println("####### Listing instances complete #######");}}}

Node.js

/** * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample. */// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';// const zone = 'europe-central2-b'constcompute=require('@google-cloud/compute');// List all instances in the given zone in the specified project.asyncfunctionlistInstances(){constinstancesClient=newcompute.InstancesClient();const[instanceList]=awaitinstancesClient.list({project:projectId,zone,});console.log(`Instances found in zone${zone}:`);for(constinstanceofinstanceList){console.log(` -${instance.name} (${instance.machineType})`);}}listInstances();

PHP

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\Client\InstancesClient;use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\ListInstancesRequest;/** * List all instances for a particular Cloud project and zone. * * @param string $projectId Your Google Cloud project ID. * @param string $zone Zone to list instances for (like "us-central1-a"). * * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ApiException if the remote call fails. */function list_instances(string $projectId, string $zone){    // List Compute Engine instances using InstancesClient.    $instancesClient = new InstancesClient();    $request = (new ListInstancesRequest())        ->setProject($projectId)        ->setZone($zone);    $instancesList = $instancesClient->list($request);    printf('Instances for %s (%s)' . PHP_EOL, $projectId, $zone);    foreach ($instancesList as $instance) {        printf(' - %s' . PHP_EOL, $instance->getName());    }}

Python

from__future__importannotationsfromcollections.abcimportIterablefromgoogle.cloudimportcompute_v1deflist_instances(project_id:str,zone:str)->Iterable[compute_v1.Instance]:"""    List all instances in the given zone in the specified project.    Args:        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.        zone: name of the zone you want to use. For example: “us-west3-b”    Returns:        An iterable collection of Instance objects.    """instance_client=compute_v1.InstancesClient()instance_list=instance_client.list(project=project_id,zone=zone)print(f"Instances found in zone{zone}:")forinstanceininstance_list:print(f" -{instance.name} ({instance.machine_type})")returninstance_list

Ruby

require"google/cloud/compute/v1"# Lists all instances in the given zone in the specified project.## @param [String] project project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.# @param [String] zone name of the zone you want to use. For example: "us-west3-b"# @return [Array<::Google::Cloud::Compute::V1::Instance>] Array of instances.deflist_instancesproject:,zone:# Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created# once, and can be reused for multiple requests.client=::Google::Cloud::Compute::V1::Instances::Rest::Client.new# Send the request to list all VM instances in the given zone in the specified project.instance_list=client.listproject:project,zone:zoneputs"Instances found in zone#{zone}:"instances=[]instance_list.eachdo|instance|puts" -#{instance.name} (#{instance.machine_type})"instances <<instanceendinstancesend

Rust

pubasyncfnquickstart(project_id:&str)->anyhow::Result<()>{usegoogle_cloud_compute_v1::client::Instances;usegoogle_cloud_gax::paginator::ItemPaginator;constZONE:&str="us-central1-a";letclient=Instances::builder().build().await?;println!("Listing instances for project {project_id}");letmutinstances=client.list().set_project(project_id).set_zone(ZONE).by_item();whileletSome(item)=instances.next().await.transpose()?{println!("  {:?}",item.name);}println!("DONE");Ok(())}

Additional resources

C++

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for C++:

C#

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for C#:

Go

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for Go:

Java

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for Java:

Node.js

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for Node.js:

PHP

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for PHP:

Python

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for Python:

Ruby

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for Ruby:

Rust

The following list contains links to more resources related to theclient library for Rust:

Older client libraries

Cloud Client Librariesuse our latest client library model and are the recommended option for accessingCloud APIs programmatically.

For cases where you can't use Cloud Client Libraries, the followingGoogle API Client Librariesare available:

LanguageLibraryResources
GoGoogle API Go Client LibraryDocumentation
JavaGoogle API Java Client LibraryDocumentation
JavaScriptGoogle API JavaScript Client LibraryDocumentation
.NETGoogle API .NET Client LibraryDocumentation
Node.jsGoogle API Node.js Client LibraryDocumentation
Objective-CGoogle API Objective-C Client LibraryDocumentation
PHPGoogle API PHP Client LibraryDocumentation
PythonGoogle API Python Client LibraryDocumentation
RubyGoogle API Ruby Client LibraryDocumentation
DartGoogle API Dart Client LibraryDocumentation

Third-party Compute Engine API client libraries

libcloud

libcloud is a Python library usedfor interacting with multiple cloud service providers through a single unified API.

The Apache libcloud API project has received support and updates forCompute Engine since July 2013. It supports a broad set ofCompute Engine features including instances, disks, networks, and loadbalancers. The getting started demo provides a code example of how to uselibcloud and Compute Engine together.

jclouds

jclouds is an open source library thatallows you to use Java and Clojure across multiple Cloud providers.

The jclouds cloud API supports Compute Engine and lets you manageresources such as virtual machines, disks, and networks. As of version 1.9,Compute Engine was promoted to the jclouds core.

fog.io

fog.io is an open source Ruby library that letsyou interact with multiple cloud services through one API.

The fog.io cloud API has had support for Compute Engine since version1.11.0 in May 2013. It supports instance operations such as create and delete,along with management operations for other resources like disks, networks, andload balancers.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025-12-15 UTC.