gcloud-compute

List VM instances

$ gcloud compute instances list

$ gcloud compute instances create [name] --zone=[zone]

$ gcloud compute ssh [instance] --zone=[zone]

$ gcloud compute instances stop [name] --zone=[zone]

$ gcloud compute disks list

gcloud compute resource command [options]

gcloud compute is the command-line interface for Google Compute Engine, Google's Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering. It provides complete control over virtual machines, persistent disks, networks, load balancers, and other infrastructure primitives.
The instances subcommand handles VM lifecycle operations including creation with customizable machine types, starting and stopping instances, and deletion. Network resources like VPCs, subnets, firewall rules, and routes are managed through their respective subcommands.
Special convenience features include built-in SSH access via gcloud compute ssh, which automatically manages SSH keys and connection details, and gcloud compute scp for secure file transfers. The command group supports advanced features like custom images, snapshots, instance groups, and managed instance groups for autoscaling. All operations respect zones and regions, which must be specified either per-command or via configuration defaults.

RESOURCE

Resource type: instances, disks, networks, etc.

VM instance management.

Persistent disk operations.

SSH into instance.

Copy files to/from instance.

Compute zone.

Display help information.

Resources incur costs. Zone selection affects availability. Some operations take time.

gcloud compute is part of the Google Cloud SDK for managing Compute Engine, Google's Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering for running virtual machines.

gcloud(1), gcloud-container(1)