gcloud-config

name	gcloud-config
description	CLI properties & configurations via gcloud (`gcloud config`). View and edit Google Cloud CLI properties — configurations.

gcloud config — CLI properties & configurations

Overview

gcloud config manages the gcloud CLI itself, not a Google Cloud product. It reads and writes the properties that control gcloud's behavior — the default project, account, Compute Engine region/zone, log verbosity, proxy settings, prompt suppression, and more — and organizes them into named configurations you can switch between. Reach for it to set your defaults once (so you stop passing --project on every command), to keep separate property sets for different projects or environments, or to tune gcloud for scripting and CI.

Everything here is client-side: it operates on local files under ~/.config/gcloud (Linux/macOS) or %APPDATA%\gcloud (Windows). There is no API to enable and no IAM role required to set or read these properties.

Quick reference — common workflows

1. Initial project / region / zone setup

# Set the default project (core section — section prefix optional)
gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

# Set the default Compute Engine region and zone
gcloud config set compute/region us-central1
gcloud config set compute/zone us-central1-a

# Confirm what is set in the active configuration
gcloud config list

2. Read or list individual properties

# Print one property's value (core/ prefix optional)
gcloud config get project
gcloud config get compute/zone

# List the whole compute section, including unset properties
gcloud config list compute/ --all

3. Create and switch between named configurations (multi-project)

# Create a new configuration (activated automatically; use --no-activate to keep current)
gcloud config configurations create staging

# Set properties — they apply to the now-active "staging" configuration
gcloud config set project staging-project-456
gcloud config set compute/region europe-west1

# Inspect a configuration without activating it
gcloud config configurations describe staging

# Switch back to another configuration
gcloud config configurations activate default

# See all configurations and which one is active
gcloud config configurations list

4. Run a single command under a different configuration

# --configuration is a gcloud-wide flag, not a config subcommand;
# it overrides the active configuration for just this invocation
gcloud config list --configuration=staging

5. Unset properties (active config vs. installation-wide)

# Remove a property from the active configuration
gcloud config unset compute/zone

# Remove a property across the entire installation (all configurations)
gcloud config unset compute/region --installation

6. Rename and delete configurations

# Rename a configuration
gcloud config configurations rename staging --new-name=staging-eu

# You cannot delete the active configuration — activate another first
gcloud config configurations activate default

# Delete one, or several at once
gcloud config configurations delete staging-eu
gcloud config configurations delete old-config1 old-config2

7. Tune gcloud for scripting / CI

# Suppress interactive prompts (essential in non-interactive pipelines)
gcloud config set disable_prompts true

# Route gcloud through an HTTP proxy
gcloud config set proxy/type http
gcloud config set proxy/address 1.234.56.78
gcloud config set proxy/port 8080

# Apply a default to the whole installation rather than one configuration
gcloud config set compute/region us-central1 --installation

Command groups

Group	Reference file	Commands	Description
config (top level)	_commands.md	4	get, list, set, unset — read and edit individual properties
config configurations	configurations.md	6	manage the set of gcloud named configurations

See index.md for a one-line index of all 10 commands.

Common flags & tips

• SECTION/PROPERTY syntax — properties are namespaced by section (compute/region, proxy/port). The core/ prefix is optional, so project and core/project are equivalent; other sections must be named explicitly.
• --installation (on set and unset) — writes to the installation-wide config that backs every configuration, instead of only the active one. Use it for machine-wide defaults; per-configuration values still override it.
• --all (on list and configurations describe) — includes unset properties. With list you may combine --all only with a section, e.g. gcloud config list compute/ --all; you cannot pass both --all and a specific property name.
• --configuration=NAME — a gcloud-wide flag (works on any gcloud command) that runs under a named configuration for that single invocation without activating it.
• Can't delete the active config — configurations delete refuses the active configuration even when overridden with --configuration; activate another one first. delete accepts multiple names.
• configurations create activates by default — pass --no-activate to create without switching.
• configurations rename requires --new-name — e.g. --new-name=new-config.
• Filtering/sorting lists — gcloud config configurations list and gcloud config list support --filter, --limit, and --sort-by, plus the usual gcloud-wide --format (e.g. --format="value(name)").
• Cloud Shell caveat — in Cloud Shell, gcloud preferences live in a temporary per-tab folder and do not persist across sessions unless you configure persistence.

Official documentation

• Cloud SDK docs home — https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs — top-level documentation for the gcloud CLI and Cloud SDK.
• Managing configurations — https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/configurations — concepts and how-to for creating, activating, switching, and deleting named configurations.
• Properties reference — https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/properties — all property sections (core, compute, auth, storage, …) and the precedence rules for how values are resolved.
• gcloud topic configurations — https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/topic/configurations — detailed topic page covering all property sections, CLOUDSDK_* environment variables, and config file locations.
• gcloud config reference — https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/config — the CLI reference landing page for this command group.