REST Resource: projects.serviceAccounts.keys

Resource: ServiceAccountKey

Represents a service account key.

A service account has two sets of key-pairs: user-managed, and system-managed.

User-managed key-pairs can be created and deleted by users. Users are responsible for rotating these keys periodically to ensure security of their service accounts. Users retain the private key of these key-pairs, and Google retains ONLY the public key.

System-managed keys are automatically rotated by Google, and are used for signing for a maximum of two weeks. The rotation process is probabilistic, and usage of the new key will gradually ramp up and down over the key's lifetime.

If you cache the public key set for a service account, we recommend that you update the cache every 15 minutes. User-managed keys can be added and removed at any time, so it is important to update the cache frequently. For Google-managed keys, Google will publish a key at least 6 hours before it is first used for signing and will keep publishing it for at least 6 hours after it was last used for signing.

Public keys for all service accounts are also published at the OAuth2 Service Account API.

JSON representation
{
  "name": string,
  "privateKeyType": enum (ServiceAccountPrivateKeyType),
  "keyAlgorithm": enum (ServiceAccountKeyAlgorithm),
  "privateKeyData": string,
  "publicKeyData": string,
  "validAfterTime": string,
  "validBeforeTime": string,
  "keyOrigin": enum (ServiceAccountKeyOrigin),
  "keyType": enum (KeyType),
  "disabled": boolean
}
Fields
name

string

The resource name of the service account key in the following format projects/{PROJECT_ID}/serviceAccounts/{ACCOUNT}/keys/{key}.

privateKeyType

enum (ServiceAccountPrivateKeyType)

The output format for the private key. Only provided in keys.create responses, not in keys.get or ListServiceAccountKey responses.

Google never exposes system-managed private keys, and never retains user-managed private keys.

keyAlgorithm

enum (ServiceAccountKeyAlgorithm)

Specifies the algorithm (and possibly key size) for the key.

privateKeyData

string (bytes format)

The private key data. Only provided in keys.create responses. Make sure to keep the private key data secure because it allows for the assertion of the service account identity. When base64 decoded, the private key data can be used to authenticate with Google API client libraries and with gcloud auth activate-service-account.

A base64-encoded string.

publicKeyData

string (bytes format)

The public key data. Only provided in keys.get responses.

A base64-encoded string.

validAfterTime

string (Timestamp format)

The key can be used after this timestamp.

A timestamp in RFC3339 UTC "Zulu" format, with nanosecond resolution and up to nine fractional digits. Examples: "2014-10-02T15:01:23Z" and "2014-10-02T15:01:23.045123456Z".

validBeforeTime

string (Timestamp format)

The key can be used before this timestamp. For system-managed key pairs, this timestamp is the end time for the private key signing operation. The public key could still be used for verification for a few hours after this time.

A timestamp in RFC3339 UTC "Zulu" format, with nanosecond resolution and up to nine fractional digits. Examples: "2014-10-02T15:01:23Z" and "2014-10-02T15:01:23.045123456Z".

keyOrigin

enum (ServiceAccountKeyOrigin)

The key origin.

keyType

enum (KeyType)

The key type.

disabled

boolean

The key status.

ServiceAccountPrivateKeyType

Supported private key output formats.

Enums
TYPE_UNSPECIFIED Unspecified. Equivalent to TYPE_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS_FILE.
TYPE_PKCS12_FILE PKCS12 format. The password for the PKCS12 file is notasecret. For more information, see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7292.
TYPE_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS_FILE Google Credentials File format.

ServiceAccountKeyAlgorithm

Supported key algorithms.

Enums
KEY_ALG_UNSPECIFIED An unspecified key algorithm.
KEY_ALG_RSA_1024 1k RSA Key.
KEY_ALG_RSA_2048 2k RSA Key.

ServiceAccountKeyOrigin

Service Account Key Origin.

Enums
ORIGIN_UNSPECIFIED Unspecified key origin.
USER_PROVIDED Key is provided by user.
GOOGLE_PROVIDED Key is provided by Google.

KeyType

KeyType filters to selectively retrieve certain varieties of keys.

Enums
KEY_TYPE_UNSPECIFIED Unspecified key type. The presence of this in the message will immediately result in an error.
USER_MANAGED User-managed keys (managed and rotated by the user).
SYSTEM_MANAGED System-managed keys (managed and rotated by Google).

Methods

create

Creates a ServiceAccountKey.

delete

Deletes a ServiceAccountKey.

disable

Disable a ServiceAccountKey.

enable

Enable a ServiceAccountKey.

get

Gets a ServiceAccountKey.

list

Lists every ServiceAccountKey for a service account.

upload

Uploads the public key portion of a key pair that you manage, and associates the public key with a ServiceAccount.