Getting started using Cloud Endpoints Portal

As of March 21, 2022, Cloud Endpoints Portal is deprecated. Cloud Endpoints Portal will no longer be available after March 21, 2023. API traffic managed by Cloud Endpoints is not affected by this change. For more information, see Feature deprecations.

This page describes how to create a portal for your Cloud Endpoints service and introduces you to the portal user interface. For each task, the minimum required Identity and Access Management role (or roles) required to complete the task is provided. For more information about IAM permissions, see the following:

• Understanding roles
• Granting, changing, and revoking access to resources
• Creating and managing custom roles

Prerequisites

This page assumes that you have already:

• Created a Google Cloud project.
• Added API management. See the following for more information:
  • Java: Adding API management
  • Python: Adding API management

Creating a portal

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have serviceusage.services.enable on the project. The Project Editor role on the project has this permission.

To create a portal:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Endpoints > Developer Portal page.

   Go to the Cloud Endpoints Portal

2. Select the Cloud project that the API is in.
3. Click Create portal. Generating the portal typically takes between 5 and 10 minutes. When your portal is ready, a URL to it is displayed.

Creating a portal has the following effects:

• During portal creation, a service account with the name [e-mail] is created with the Role Endpoints Portal Service Agent. (YOUR_PROJECT_NUMBER is the project number of your Cloud project.) You can see this service account in the Google Cloud console on the IAM & admin > IAM page for your Cloud project.

  Important: Don't delete the Endpoints Portal service account and don't change its permissions because it makes your portal unusable. Also, don't assign the Endpoints Portal Service Agent role to other principals.

• When your portal is created, it uses the domain name endpointsportal.YOUR_PROJECT_ID.cloud.goog. (YOUR_PROJECT_ID is your Cloud project ID.) To support this, an SSL/TLS certificate and a public DNS record containing your project ID are created and are searchable in the public Certificate Transparency logs, even though your portal isn't publicly accessible.

Viewing the portal for an API

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permission:

• API users: servicemanagement.services.bind on the Endpoints service. The Service Consumer role contains this permission. See Controlling who can enable your API for more information.
• Principals with access to the parent project for the Endpoints service: servicemanagement.services.get on the project. The Viewer role contains this permission. See Granting, changing, and revoking access to resources for more information.

To view the portal for an API:

1. On the Endpoints > Developer Portal page, in the Portal URL section, click the URL.

2. Follow the login prompts to continue to your portal. If you have more than one account, make sure to choose the account that is in the Cloud project that the API is in.

   The homepage for your portal is displayed. For convenience, we recommend that you bookmark this URL. The portal homepage displays a list with links to all the APIs in the Cloud project.

3. Click the API that you want to explore. The homepage for the API is displayed.

Introducing the portal UI

At the bottom of the homepage for your API, the following icons provide useful links for your API users.

• API Reference displays the first page of the SmartDocs API reference documentation that Endpoints Portal generated from the openapi.json file that Endpoints Frameworks created. You can use the navigation bar on the left to view the SmartDocs documentation for each method and resource.

• Getting Started displays example content in the Getting Started guide. Before you send the portal URL to your API users, customize this documentation to provide information that your API users need to get started using your API in their code. See Adding custom documentation for information on how to modify the content in the Getting Started guide.

• Get a Key displays the APIs & Services > API Library page so that users can enable your API in their own Google Cloud projects.

  If your API requires an API key, after users enable your API, they can go to the APIs & Services > Credentials page to get an API key that they can use in their code. Before you send the portal URL to your API users, you must grant them access to use your API. See Controlling who can enable your API for more information.

Customizing the appearance of your portal

You might want to change things such as the color schemes and icons displayed on your portal to match your company's website. By changing the appearance and setting up a custom domain for your portal, you can create a branded experience for your users.

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have endpoints.portals.update on the project. The Endpoints Portal Admin role on the project or the Project Editor role on the project has this permission.

To customize the appearance of your portal:

1. In top-right corner of the page, click Settings .

2. Click the Site Wide tab. You can change the appearance of the following:

   • Logo
   • Primary color, which is used as the homepage and title bar background color.
   • Secondary color, which is used as the color for icons and links.
   • Homepage title.
   • Homepage description.

3. Click Save.

Deleting a portal

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have serviceusage.services.disable on the project. The Project Editor role on the project has this permission.

To delete a portal:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Endpoints > Developer Portal page.

   Go to the Cloud Endpoints Portal

2. Select the Cloud project that the API is in.
3. Click Delete .
4. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete.

What's next

Learn about:

• The fields that Endpoints Portal uses in your Endpoints configuration to generate the SmartDocs reference documentation, and how to regenerate SmartDocs,
• The permissions in the Endpoints Portal Admin role, and
• How to add custom documentation to your portal.