gcloud auth activate-service-account

NAME
gcloud auth activate-service-account - authorize access to Google Cloud with a service account
SYNOPSIS
gcloud auth activate-service-account[ACCOUNT]--key-file=KEY_FILE[--password-file=PASSWORD_FILE    |--prompt-for-password][GCLOUD_WIDE_FLAG …]
DESCRIPTION
To allowgcloud (and othertools in Google Cloud CLI) to use service account credentials to make requests,use this command to import these credentials from a file that contains a privateauthorization key, and activate them for use ingcloud. gcloud authactivate-service-account serves the same function asgcloud auth login but uses aservice account rather than Google user credentials.

For more information on authorization and credential types, see:https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/authorizing.

Key File

To obtain the key file for this command, use either theGoogle Cloud Console orgcloudiam service-accounts keys create. The key file can be .json (preferred)or .p12 (legacy) format. In the case of legacy .p12 files, a separate passwordmight be required and is displayed in the Console when you create the key.

Credentials

Credentials will also be activated (similar to runninggcloud config setaccount [ACCOUNT_NAME]).

If a project is specified using the--project flag, the project isset in active configuration, which is the same as runninggcloud configset project [PROJECT_NAME]. Any previously active credentials, will beretained (though no longer default) and can be displayed by runninggcloud auth list.

If you want to delete previous credentials, seegcloud auth revoke.

Note: Service accounts use client quotas for trackingusage.

EXAMPLES
To authorizegcloud to accessGoogle Cloud using an existing service account while also specifying a project,run:
gcloudauthactivate-service-accountSERVICE_ACCOUNT@DOMAIN.COM--key-file=/path/key.json--project=PROJECT_ID
POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS
[ACCOUNT]
E-mail address of the service account.
REQUIRED FLAGS
--key-file=KEY_FILE
Path to the private key file.
OPTIONAL FLAGS
At most one of these can be specified:
--password-file=PASSWORD_FILE
Path to a file containing the password for the service account private key (onlyfor a .p12 file).
--prompt-for-password
Prompt for the password for the service account private key (only for a .p12file).
GCLOUD WIDE FLAGS
These flags are available to all commands:--access-token-file,--account,--billing-project,--configuration,--flags-file,--flatten,--format,--help,--impersonate-service-account,--log-http,--project,--quiet,--trace-token,--user-output-enabled,--verbosity.

Run$gcloud help for details.

NOTES
These variants are also available:
gcloudalphaauthactivate-service-account
gcloudbetaauthactivate-service-account

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Last updated 2025-05-07 UTC.