Enable the Monitoring API

This page describes how to enable and authorize use of the Monitoring API v3. You must enable this API before you can use it.

Enable the Monitoring API

To determine whether the Monitoring API is enabled or to enable the API, use either the Google Cloud console or the Google Cloud CLI.

Google Cloud console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, select the Google Cloud project for which you want to enable the API, and then go to the APIs & Services page:

    Go to APIs & Services

  2. Click the Enable APIs and Service button.

  3. Search for "Monitoring".

  4. In the search results, click through to "Stackdriver Monitoring API".

  5. If "API enabled" is displayed, then the API is already enabled. If not, then click Enable.

gcloud CLI

  1. If you have not already installed the Google Cloud CLI on your workstation, see Installing the gcloud CLI.

  2. To see if the Monitoring API is enabled, run the following command on your workstation, after replacing PROJECT_ID with the ID of the project for which you want to enable the API:

    gcloud services list --project=PROJECT_ID

    If monitoring.googleapis.com appears in the output, the API is enabled.

  3. If the API is not enabled, then run the following command to enable it:

    gcloud services enable monitoring --project=PROJECT_ID

    For more information, see gcloud services.

Authorize use of the Monitoring API

Access to the Monitoring API is controlled by Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and permissions. There is a permission associated with each method, and permissions for related methods are clustered into roles, which can then be granted to users. For more information, see Control access with IAM.

After access to an API is authorized, the API can be used from anywhere. For example, you can call the timeSeries.list method from your local workstation. You can also use the API to send metrics against any entity that can be represented as a monitored resource. See Monitored-resource types for user-defined metrics for the list of available types.

If you are writing an application that uses the recommended client libraries, these libraries authorize your application by using Application Default Credentials.

You might also be able to use API keys in some situations, but service accounts are generally recommended. API keys are useful in clients like browsers and mobile applications that don't have a backend server. For more information, see Using API Keys.

You can find out more about authentication and authorization in our Authentication guide.