gcloud-help

Search the gcloud CLI reference documents for specific terms

$ gcloud help

gcloud help [--all] [TOPIC]

--all
    List all available commands and groups recursively.

TOPIC
    Command or group name (e.g., 'compute instances'). Positional argument.

The gcloud help command provides comprehensive documentation for the Google Cloud CLI directly in the terminal. It serves as an interactive reference, listing command syntax, options, arguments, and examples.

Invoking gcloud help without arguments shows an overview of top-level command groups like alpha, beta, compute, container, and more, along with global flags and configuration instructions. To get detailed help on a specific command or group, append it as an argument, e.g., gcloud help compute instances create. This reveals positional arguments, required/optional flags, output formats, and usage examples.

The --all flag expands the overview to include all nested commands and groups recursively, useful for exploring the full command tree. Help output is structured with sections like USAGE, FLAGS, POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS, EXAMPLES, and NOTES, making it easy to navigate complex CLI workflows. It supports formatted output via global --format flags for customization.

Essential for users managing Google Cloud resources via CLI, it reduces reliance on external docs and enables quick reference during scripting or troubleshooting.

Output may be verbose with --all; use pagination tools like 'less'. Inherits global gcloud flags like --format, --help.

gcloud help (overview)
gcloud help compute (group help)
gcloud help sql instances create (command details)
gcloud help --all (full tree)

Typically includes USAGE, FLAGS, EXAMPLES, NOTES for structured reference.

Introduced with Google Cloud SDK v1.0 in 2013; evolved alongside Cloud Platform services, with regular updates for new commands and improved formatting.

man(1), info(1), gcloud(1)