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- NAME
- gcloud compute instances - read and manipulate Compute Engine virtual machine instances
- SYNOPSIS
gcloud compute instancesGROUP|COMMAND[GCLOUD_WIDE_FLAG …]
- DESCRIPTION
- Read and manipulate Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
For more information about virtual machine instances, see thevirtual machineinstances documentation.
See also:InstancesAPI.
- GCLOUD WIDE FLAGS
- These flags are available to all commands:
--help.Run
$gcloud helpfor details. - GROUPS
is one of the following:GROUPbulk- Manipulate multiple Compute Engine virtual machines with single commandexecutions.
network-interfaces- Read and manipulate Compute Engine instance network interfaces.
ops-agents- Manage Google Cloud Observability agents for Compute Engine VM instances.
os-inventory- Read Compute Engine OS Inventory Data and Related Resources.
- COMMANDS
is one of the following:COMMANDadd-access-config- Create a Compute Engine virtual machine access configuration.
add-iam-policy-binding- Add IAM policy binding to a Compute Engine instance.
add-labels- Add labels to Google Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
add-metadata- Add or update instance metadata.
add-resource-policies- Add resource policies to Compute Engine VM instances.
add-tags- Add tags to Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
attach-disk- Attach a disk to an instance.
create- Create Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
create-with-container(DEPRECATED)Creates Compute Engine virtual machine instancesrunning container images.delete- Delete Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
delete-access-config- Delete an access configuration from a virtual machine network interface.
describe- Describe a virtual machine instance.
detach-disk- Detach disks from Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
export- Export a Compute Engine virtual machine instance's configuration to a file.
get-guest-attributes- Get the Guest Attributes for a compute instance.
get-iam-policy- Get the IAM policy for a Compute Engine instance.
get-screenshot- Capture a screenshot (JPEG image) of the virtual machine instance's display.
get-serial-port-output- Read output from a virtual machine instance's serial port.
get-shielded-identity- Get the Shielded identity for a Compute Engine instance.
import- Create Compute Engine virtual machine instances from virtual appliance inOVA/OVF format.
list- List Compute Engine instances.
perform-maintenance- Perform maintenance of Google Compute Engine instance.
remove-iam-policy-binding- Remove IAM policy binding from a Compute Engine instance.
remove-labels- Remove labels from Google Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
remove-metadata- Remove instance metadata.
remove-resource-policies- Remove resource policies from Compute Engine VM instances.
remove-tags- Remove tags from Compute Engine virtual machine instances.
report-host-as-faulty- Report a host as faulty to start the repair process.
reset- Reset a virtual machine instance.
resume- Resume a virtual machine instance.
send-diagnostic-interrupt- Send a diagnostic interrupt to a virtual machine instance.
set-disk-auto-delete- Set auto-delete behavior for disks.
set-iam-policy- Set IAM policy for a Compute Engine instance.
set-machine-type- Set machine type for Compute Engine virtual machines.
set-name- Set the name of a Compute Engine virtual machine.
set-scheduling- Set scheduling options for Compute Engine virtual machines.
set-service-account- Set a service account and access scopes for a Compute Engine VM instance.
simulate-maintenance-event- Simulate host maintenance of VM instances.
start- Start a stopped virtual machine instance.
stop- Stop a virtual machine instance.
suspend- Suspend a virtual machine instance.
tail-serial-port-output- Periodically fetch new output from a virtual machine instance's serial port anddisplay it as it becomes available.
update- Update a Compute Engine virtual machine.
update-access-config- Update a Compute Engine virtual machine access configuration.
update-container(DEPRECATED)Updates Compute Engine virtual machine instancesrunning container images.update-from-file- Update a Compute Engine virtual machine instance using a configuration file.
- NOTES
- These variants are also available:
gcloudalphacomputeinstancesgcloudbetacomputeinstances
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Last updated 2025-10-14 UTC.