Enables debugging on a VM instance. This allows you to use the SSH command to connect to the virtual machine where the instance lives. While in "debug mode", the instance continues to serve live traffic. You should delete the instance when you are done debugging and then allow the system to take over and determine if another instance should be started.
Only applicable for instances in App Engine flexible environment.
HTTP request
POST https://appengine.googleapis.com/v1/{name=apps/*/services/*/versions/*/instances/*}:debug
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-06-16 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis document describes how to enable debugging on a VM instance in the App Engine flexible environment, allowing SSH connections for debugging while the instance continues to serve live traffic.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe HTTP request to enable debugging is a \u003ccode\u003ePOST\u003c/code\u003e request to a specific URL, using gRPC Transcoding syntax, which requires a resource \u003ccode\u003ename\u003c/code\u003e in the URL path.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe request body must contain the public SSH key (\u003ccode\u003esshKey\u003c/code\u003e) to be added to the instance, with specific formatting requirements for the key.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSuccessful debugging requests return an \u003ccode\u003eOperation\u003c/code\u003e instance in the response body.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eEnabling debugging requires the \u003ccode\u003eappengine.instances.enableDebug\u003c/code\u003e IAM permission and the \u003ccode\u003ehttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform\u003c/code\u003e OAuth scope.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]