How to use the Google Cloud Platform Expert agent skill

What the gcp skill makes the agent do

Agent skills are folders of instructions that an AI agent reads when a task matches them. The gcp skill is described as a Google Cloud Platform expert for the gcloud CLI, GKE, Cloud Run and managed services. Its guidance covers a few recurring areas: choosing managed services over self-managed infrastructure, setting up service accounts per workload, labelling resources, and enabling audit logging and monitoring early.

The file also lists common patterns, such as a stateless API on Cloud Run connected to Cloud SQL, a Pub/Sub fan-out to several subscribers, GKE Workload Identity, and Cloud Storage lifecycle policies. It names pitfalls to avoid, including exporting service account JSON keys for apps running on GCP and using the default VPC network for production.

• Prefers managed services such as Cloud SQL, Pub/Sub and Cloud Run
• Suggests least-privilege IAM roles and dedicated service accounts
• Recommends resource labels (team, environment, cost-center) and audit logging
• Offers gcloud commands for Cloud Run deploys, GKE cluster creation and billing budgets

Install the gcp skill

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. The skill is a folder containing SKILL.md. You can install it in one of two places: your personal skills folder, which makes it available across your projects, or a project's own .claude/skills/ folder, which limits it to that project.

If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: unzip the folder into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
• Claude apps: go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. Ask about cloud infrastructure on Google Cloud in plain language, and mention the services or tasks you care about. The more specific your request, the more useful the answer, because the agent can apply the relevant patterns and defaults.

Good requests name the goal and the constraint, for example the service, the environment and any cost or security concern.

• "Set up a first Google Cloud project for a small API. What should I lock down before deploying?"
• "Review my plan to run this service on Cloud Run with a Cloud SQL database."
• "Give me gcloud commands to deploy this container to Cloud Run in us-central1."
• "Create a GKE cluster with autoscaling and Workload Identity, and explain the defaults."
• "Help me set a billing budget so I get warned before costs overrun."

Review the commands before you run them

The skill gives advice and command suggestions. It does not connect to Google Cloud, run scripts or change anything on its own. To run a suggested command, the agent still needs your credentials and gcloud access on your machine, and the command runs only when you execute it.

Treat the output as a starting draft. The skill file is short and general, so flags and defaults may have changed since it was written. Check each command against the current gcloud help, for example by running the command with --help, before you use it on a real account.

• Read every command and confirm the project, region and account before running it
• Do not run suggested changes directly against a production account without review
• Check flags against current gcloud documentation, because the skill file may be out of date

Use it for first-time setup and architecture review

The skill is most useful when you are new to a Google Cloud project or want a second opinion on a design. Ask the agent to review the plan against its principles, such as whether a workload has its own service account, whether resources are labelled, and whether audit logging is on. It also suggests configuration contexts for switching between dev, staging and prod with gcloud config configurations, which the source describes as avoiding re-authentication when switching.

• Ask for a checklist of IAM, networking and logging items before the first deploy
• Ask why a managed service is suggested over a self-managed one
• Ask for a custom VPC design instead of the default network

Safety notes: scripts, network and credentials

The skill contains no scripts and does not use the network. Its risk is in the commands you choose to run. Because the agent needs your gcloud access to execute anything, keep credentials scoped and avoid sharing long-lived service account JSON keys. The skill itself advises against exporting those keys for applications on GCP.

Some suggested patterns, such as deploying with --allow-unauthenticated, make a service publicly reachable. Confirm that is what you want before running it.

• No scripts are included in the skill
• The skill does not connect to Google Cloud on its own
• Use least-privilege roles and avoid the default compute service account in production
• Confirm public access flags such as --allow-unauthenticated before running them