Publish and receive messages in Pub/Sub by using the client libraries

Publish and receive messages in Pub/Sub by using the client libraries

Note: Pub/Sub Lite is deprecated. Effective March 18, 2026, Pub/Sub Lite will be turned down.

• Current customers: Pub/Sub Lite remains functional until March 18, 2026. If you have not used Pub/Sub Lite within the 90-day period preceding September 24, 2024 (June 26, 2024 - September 24, 2024), you won't be able to access Pub/Sub Lite starting on September 24, 2024.
• New customers: Pub/Sub Lite is no longer available for new customers after September 24, 2024.

You can migrate your Pub/Sub Lite service to Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka or Pub/Sub.

This page shows you how to do the following:

• Create a project, enable billing, and enable the Pub/Sub Lite API using the Google Cloud CLI.

• Create Lite reservations, Lite topics, and Lite subscriptions using the Google Cloud CLI.

• Send and receive messages using the Pub/Sub Lite client library for Go, Java, and Python.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.
2. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

   gcloud init

4. Create or select a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   • Create a Google Cloud project:

     gcloud projects create PROJECT_ID

     Replace PROJECT_ID with a name for the Google Cloud project you are creating.

   • Select the Google Cloud project that you created:

     gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

     Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project name.

5. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

6. Enable the Pub/Sub Lite API:

   gcloud services enable pubsublite.googleapis.com

7. Create local authentication credentials for your user account:

   gcloud auth application-default login

8. Grant roles to your user account. Run the following command once for each of the following IAM roles: roles/pubsublite.admin

   gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID --member="user:USER_IDENTIFIER" --role=ROLE

   • Replace PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

   • Replace USER_IDENTIFIER with the identifier for your user account. For example, user:[e-mail].

   • Replace ROLE with each individual role.
9. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

10. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

    gcloud init

11. Create or select a Google Cloud project.

    Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

    • Create a Google Cloud project:

      gcloud projects create PROJECT_ID

      Replace PROJECT_ID with a name for the Google Cloud project you are creating.

    • Select the Google Cloud project that you created:

      gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

      Replace PROJECT_ID with your Google Cloud project name.

12. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

13. Enable the Pub/Sub Lite API:

    gcloud services enable pubsublite.googleapis.com

14. Create local authentication credentials for your user account:

    gcloud auth application-default login

15. Grant roles to your user account. Run the following command once for each of the following IAM roles: roles/pubsublite.admin

    gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID --member="user:USER_IDENTIFIER" --role=ROLE

    • Replace PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

    • Replace USER_IDENTIFIER with the identifier for your user account. For example, user:[e-mail].

    • Replace ROLE with each individual role.

Install the client library

Go

go get cloud.google.com/go/pubsublite

Java

If you are using Maven, add the following to your pom.xml file. For more information about BOMs, see The Google Cloud Platform Libraries BOM.

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
  <artifactId>google-cloud-pubsublite</artifactId>
  <version>1.14.8</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
  <artifactId>google-cloud-pubsub</artifactId>
  <version>1.135.0</version>
</dependency>

If you are using Gradle, add the following to your dependencies:

implementation 'com.google.cloud:google-cloud-pubsublite:1.15.0'

If you are using sbt, add the following to your dependencies:

libraryDependencies += "com.google.cloud" % "google-cloud-pubsublite" % "1.15.0"

If you're using Visual Studio Code, IntelliJ, or Eclipse, you can add client libraries to your project using the following IDE plugins:

• Cloud Code for VS Code
• Cloud Code for IntelliJ
• Cloud Tools for Eclipse

The plugins provide additional functionality, such as key management for service accounts. Refer to each plugin's documentation for details.

Note: Cloud Java client libraries do not currently support Android.

Python

pip install --upgrade google-cloud-pubsublite

Create a Lite reservation

To create a Lite reservation, use the gcloud pubsub lite-reservations create command. The following sample creates a reservation called testRes.

gcloud pubsub lite-reservations create testRes \
    --location=us-central1 \
    --throughput-capacity=1

Create a regional Lite topic

To create a regional Lite topic, use the gcloud pubsub lite-topics create command. The following sample creates a topic called testTopic.

gcloud pubsub lite-topics create testTopic \
    --location=us-central1 \
    --partitions=1 \
    --per-partition-bytes=30GiB \
    --throughput-reservation=projects/PROJECT_ID/locations/us-central1/reservations/testRes \

Replace the following:

PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project

Create a Lite subscription

To create a Lite subscription, use the gcloud pubsub lite-subscriptions create command. The following sample creates a subscription called testSub.

gcloud pubsub lite-subscriptions create testSub \
    --location=us-central1 \
    --topic=testTopic \
    --delivery-requirement=deliver-immediately

Send messages

Send messages to the Lite topic using the following publisher application:

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Pub/Sub Lite quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Lite Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub Lite, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

package main

import (
	"context"
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"sync"

	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsub"
	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsublite/pscompat"
	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
)

func main() {
	// NOTE: Set these flags for an existing Pub/Sub Lite topic when running this
	// sample.
	projectID := flag.String("project_id", "", "Cloud Project ID")
	zone := flag.String("zone", "", "Cloud Zone where the topic resides, e.g. us-central1-a")
	topicID := flag.String("topic_id", "", "Existing Pub/Sub Lite topic")
	messageCount := flag.Int("message_count", 100, "The number of messages to send")
	flag.Parse()

	ctx := context.Background()
	topicPath := fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/locations/%s/topics/%s", *projectID, *zone, *topicID)

	// Create the publisher client.
	publisher, err := pscompat.NewPublisherClient(ctx, topicPath)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("pscompat.NewPublisherClient error: %v", err)
	}

	// Ensure the publisher will be shut down.
	defer publisher.Stop()

	// Collect any messages that need to be republished with a new publisher
	// client.
	var toRepublish []*pubsub.Message
	var toRepublishMu sync.Mutex

	// Publish messages. Messages are automatically batched.
	g := new(errgroup.Group)
	for i := 0; i < *messageCount; i++ {
		msg := &pubsub.Message{
			Data: []byte(fmt.Sprintf("message-%d", i)),
		}
		result := publisher.Publish(ctx, msg)

		g.Go(func() error {
			// Get blocks until the result is ready.
			id, err := result.Get(ctx)
			if err != nil {
				// NOTE: A failed PublishResult indicates that the publisher client
				// encountered a fatal error and has permanently terminated. After the
				// fatal error has been resolved, a new publisher client instance must
				// be created to republish failed messages.
				fmt.Printf("Publish error: %v\n", err)
				toRepublishMu.Lock()
				toRepublish = append(toRepublish, msg)
				toRepublishMu.Unlock()
				return err
			}

			// Metadata decoded from the id contains the partition and offset.
			metadata, err := pscompat.ParseMessageMetadata(id)
			if err != nil {
				fmt.Printf("Failed to parse message metadata %q: %v\n", id, err)
				return err
			}
			fmt.Printf("Published: partition=%d, offset=%d\n", metadata.Partition, metadata.Offset)
			return nil
		})
	}
	if err := g.Wait(); err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("Publishing finished with error: %v\n", err)
	}
	fmt.Printf("Published %d messages\n", *messageCount-len(toRepublish))

	// Print the error that caused the publisher client to terminate (if any),
	// which may contain more context than PublishResults.
	if err := publisher.Error(); err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("Publisher client terminated due to error: %v\n", publisher.Error())
	}
}

Java

import com.google.api.core.ApiFuture;
import com.google.api.core.ApiFutures;
import com.google.api.gax.rpc.ApiException;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.CloudRegion;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.CloudRegionOrZone;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.CloudZone;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.MessageMetadata;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.ProjectNumber;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.TopicName;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.TopicPath;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.Publisher;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.PublisherSettings;
import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PubsubMessage;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;

public class PublisherExample {

  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String cloudRegion = "your-cloud-region";
    char zoneId = 'b';
    // Choose an existing topic for the publish example to work.
    String topicId = "your-topic-id";
    long projectNumber = Long.parseLong("123456789");
    int messageCount = 100;
    // True if using a regional location. False if using a zonal location.
    // https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/lite/docs/topics
    boolean regional = false;

    publisherExample(cloudRegion, zoneId, projectNumber, topicId, messageCount, regional);
  }

  // Publish messages to a topic.
  public static void publisherExample(
      String cloudRegion,
      char zoneId,
      long projectNumber,
      String topicId,
      int messageCount,
      boolean regional)
      throws ApiException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException {

    CloudRegionOrZone location;
    if (regional) {
      location = CloudRegionOrZone.of(CloudRegion.of(cloudRegion));
    } else {
      location = CloudRegionOrZone.of(CloudZone.of(CloudRegion.of(cloudRegion), zoneId));
    }

    TopicPath topicPath =
        TopicPath.newBuilder()
            .setProject(ProjectNumber.of(projectNumber))
            .setLocation(location)
            .setName(TopicName.of(topicId))
            .build();

    Publisher publisher = null;
    List<ApiFuture<String>> futures = new ArrayList<>();

    try {
      PublisherSettings publisherSettings =
          PublisherSettings.newBuilder().setTopicPath(topicPath).build();

      publisher = Publisher.create(publisherSettings);

      // Start the publisher. Upon successful starting, its state will become RUNNING.
      publisher.startAsync().awaitRunning();

      for (int i = 0; i < messageCount; i++) {
        String message = "message-" + i;

        // Convert the message to a byte string.
        ByteString data = ByteString.copyFromUtf8(message);
        PubsubMessage pubsubMessage = PubsubMessage.newBuilder().setData(data).build();

        // Publish a message. Messages are automatically batched.
        ApiFuture<String> future = publisher.publish(pubsubMessage);
        futures.add(future);
      }
    } finally {
      ArrayList<MessageMetadata> metadata = new ArrayList<>();
      List<String> ackIds = ApiFutures.allAsList(futures).get();
      for (String id : ackIds) {
        // Decoded metadata contains partition and offset.
        metadata.add(MessageMetadata.decode(id));
      }
      System.out.println(metadata + "\nPublished " + ackIds.size() + " messages.");

      if (publisher != null) {
        // Shut down the publisher.
        publisher.stopAsync().awaitTerminated();
        System.out.println("Publisher is shut down.");
      }
    }
  }
}

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Pub/Sub Lite quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Lite Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub Lite, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

from google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub import PublisherClient
from google.cloud.pubsublite.types import (
    CloudRegion,
    CloudZone,
    MessageMetadata,
    TopicPath,
)

# TODO(developer):
# project_number = 1122334455
# cloud_region = "us-central1"
# zone_id = "a"
# topic_id = "your-topic-id"
# regional = True

if regional:
    location = CloudRegion(cloud_region)
else:
    location = CloudZone(CloudRegion(cloud_region), zone_id)

topic_path = TopicPath(project_number, location, topic_id)

# PublisherClient() must be used in a `with` block or have __enter__() called before use.
with PublisherClient() as publisher_client:
    data = "Hello world!"
    api_future = publisher_client.publish(topic_path, data.encode("utf-8"))
    # result() blocks. To resolve API futures asynchronously, use add_done_callback().
    message_id = api_future.result()
    message_metadata = MessageMetadata.decode(message_id)
    print(
        f"Published a message to {topic_path} with partition {message_metadata.partition.value} and offset {message_metadata.cursor.offset}."
    )

The publisher sends 100 messages to a Lite topic and prints the number of messages that the Pub/Sub Lite service receives.

Receive messages

Receive messages from the Lite subscription using the following subscriber application:

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Pub/Sub Lite quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Lite Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub Lite, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

package main

import (
	"context"
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"sync/atomic"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsub"
	"cloud.google.com/go/pubsublite/pscompat"
)

func main() {
	// NOTE: Set these flags for an existing Pub/Sub Lite subscription containing
	// published messages when running this sample.
	projectID := flag.String("project_id", "", "Cloud Project ID")
	zone := flag.String("zone", "", "Cloud Zone where the topic resides, e.g. us-central1-a")
	subscriptionID := flag.String("subscription_id", "", "Existing Pub/Sub Lite subscription")
	timeout := flag.Duration("timeout", 90*time.Second, "The duration to receive messages")
	flag.Parse()

	ctx := context.Background()
	subscriptionPath := fmt.Sprintf("projects/%s/locations/%s/subscriptions/%s", *projectID, *zone, *subscriptionID)

	// Configure flow control settings. These settings apply per partition.
	// The message stream is paused based on the maximum size or number of
	// messages that the subscriber has already received, whichever condition is
	// met first.
	settings := pscompat.ReceiveSettings{
		// 10 MiB. Must be greater than the allowed size of the largest message
		// (1 MiB).
		MaxOutstandingBytes: 10 * 1024 * 1024,
		// 1,000 outstanding messages. Must be > 0.
		MaxOutstandingMessages: 1000,
	}

	// Create the subscriber client.
	subscriber, err := pscompat.NewSubscriberClientWithSettings(ctx, subscriptionPath, settings)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("pscompat.NewSubscriberClientWithSettings error: %v", err)
	}

	// Listen for messages until the timeout expires.
	log.Printf("Listening to messages on %s for %v...\n", subscriptionPath, *timeout)
	cctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, *timeout)
	defer cancel()
	var receiveCount int32

	// Receive blocks until the context is cancelled or an error occurs.
	if err := subscriber.Receive(cctx, func(ctx context.Context, msg *pubsub.Message) {
		// NOTE: May be called concurrently; synchronize access to shared memory.
		atomic.AddInt32(&receiveCount, 1)

		// Metadata decoded from the message ID contains the partition and offset.
		metadata, err := pscompat.ParseMessageMetadata(msg.ID)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatalf("Failed to parse %q: %v", msg.ID, err)
		}

		fmt.Printf("Received (partition=%d, offset=%d): %s\n", metadata.Partition, metadata.Offset, string(msg.Data))
		msg.Ack()
	}); err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("SubscriberClient.Receive error: %v", err)
	}

	fmt.Printf("Received %d messages\n", receiveCount)
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Pub/Sub Lite quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Lite Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub Lite, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import com.google.api.gax.rpc.ApiException;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.AckReplyConsumer;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.MessageReceiver;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.CloudRegion;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.CloudRegionOrZone;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.CloudZone;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.MessageMetadata;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.ProjectNumber;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.SubscriptionName;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.SubscriptionPath;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.FlowControlSettings;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.MessageTransforms;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.Subscriber;
import com.google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub.SubscriberSettings;
import com.google.protobuf.Timestamp;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PubsubMessage;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class SubscriberExample {

  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String cloudRegion = "your-cloud-region";
    char zoneId = 'b';
    // Choose an existing subscription for the subscribe example to work.
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";
    long projectNumber = Long.parseLong("123456789");
    // True if using a regional location. False if using a zonal location.
    // https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/lite/docs/topics
    boolean regional = false;

    subscriberExample(cloudRegion, zoneId, projectNumber, subscriptionId, regional);
  }

  public static void subscriberExample(
      String cloudRegion, char zoneId, long projectNumber, String subscriptionId, boolean regional)
      throws ApiException {

    CloudRegionOrZone location;
    if (regional) {
      location = CloudRegionOrZone.of(CloudRegion.of(cloudRegion));
    } else {
      location = CloudRegionOrZone.of(CloudZone.of(CloudRegion.of(cloudRegion), zoneId));
    }

    SubscriptionPath subscriptionPath =
        SubscriptionPath.newBuilder()
            .setLocation(location)
            .setProject(ProjectNumber.of(projectNumber))
            .setName(SubscriptionName.of(subscriptionId))
            .build();

    // The message stream is paused based on the maximum size or number of messages that the
    // subscriber has already received, whichever condition is met first.
    FlowControlSettings flowControlSettings =
        FlowControlSettings.builder()
            // 10 MiB. Must be greater than the allowed size of the largest message (1 MiB).
            .setBytesOutstanding(10 * 1024 * 1024L)
            // 1,000 outstanding messages. Must be >0.
            .setMessagesOutstanding(1000L)
            .build();

    MessageReceiver receiver =
        (PubsubMessage message, AckReplyConsumer consumer) -> {
          System.out.println("Id : " + MessageMetadata.decode(message.getMessageId()));
          System.out.println("Data : " + message.getData().toStringUtf8());
          System.out.println("Ordering key : " + message.getOrderingKey());
          System.out.println("Attributes : ");
          message
              .getAttributesMap()
              .forEach(
                  (key, value) -> {
                    if (key == MessageTransforms.PUBSUB_LITE_EVENT_TIME_TIMESTAMP_PROTO) {
                      Timestamp ts = MessageTransforms.decodeAttributeEventTime(value);
                      System.out.println(key + " = " + ts.toString());
                    } else {
                      System.out.println(key + " = " + value);
                    }
                  });

          // Acknowledge the message.
          consumer.ack();
        };

    SubscriberSettings subscriberSettings =
        SubscriberSettings.newBuilder()
            .setSubscriptionPath(subscriptionPath)
            .setReceiver(receiver)
            // Flow control settings are set at the partition level.
            .setPerPartitionFlowControlSettings(flowControlSettings)
            .build();

    Subscriber subscriber = Subscriber.create(subscriberSettings);

    // Start the subscriber. Upon successful starting, its state will become RUNNING.
    subscriber.startAsync().awaitRunning();

    System.out.println("Listening to messages on " + subscriptionPath.toString() + "...");

    try {
      System.out.println(subscriber.state());
      // Wait 90 seconds for the subscriber to reach TERMINATED state. If it encounters
      // unrecoverable errors before then, its state will change to FAILED and an
      // IllegalStateException will be thrown.
      subscriber.awaitTerminated(90, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    } catch (TimeoutException t) {
      // Shut down the subscriber. This will change the state of the subscriber to TERMINATED.
      subscriber.stopAsync().awaitTerminated();
      System.out.println("Subscriber is shut down: " + subscriber.state());
    }
  }
}

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Pub/Sub Lite quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Lite Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Pub/Sub Lite, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

from concurrent.futures._base import TimeoutError
from google.pubsub_v1 import PubsubMessage
from google.cloud.pubsublite.cloudpubsub import SubscriberClient
from google.cloud.pubsublite.types import (
    CloudRegion,
    CloudZone,
    FlowControlSettings,
    MessageMetadata,
    SubscriptionPath,
)

# TODO(developer):
# project_number = 1122334455
# cloud_region = "us-central1"
# zone_id = "a"
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"
# timeout = 90
# regional = True

if regional:
    location = CloudRegion(cloud_region)
else:
    location = CloudZone(CloudRegion(cloud_region), zone_id)

subscription_path = SubscriptionPath(project_number, location, subscription_id)
# Configure when to pause the message stream for more incoming messages based on the
# maximum size or number of messages that a single-partition subscriber has received,
# whichever condition is met first.
per_partition_flow_control_settings = FlowControlSettings(
    # 1,000 outstanding messages. Must be >0.
    messages_outstanding=1000,
    # 10 MiB. Must be greater than the allowed size of the largest message (1 MiB).
    bytes_outstanding=10 * 1024 * 1024,
)

def callback(message: PubsubMessage):
    message_data = message.data.decode("utf-8")
    metadata = MessageMetadata.decode(message.message_id)
    print(
        f"Received {message_data} of ordering key {message.ordering_key} with id {metadata}."
    )
    message.ack()

# SubscriberClient() must be used in a `with` block or have __enter__() called before use.
with SubscriberClient() as subscriber_client:

    streaming_pull_future = subscriber_client.subscribe(
        subscription_path,
        callback=callback,
        per_partition_flow_control_settings=per_partition_flow_control_settings,
    )

    print(f"Listening for messages on {str(subscription_path)}...")

    try:
        streaming_pull_future.result(timeout=timeout)
    except TimeoutError or KeyboardInterrupt:
        streaming_pull_future.cancel()
        assert streaming_pull_future.done()

After the subscriber receives a message, the subscriber prints the message ID and the message data.

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used on this page, delete the Google Cloud project with the resources.

1. To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used in this guide, delete the topic and subscription.

   gcloud pubsub lite-subscriptions delete testSub --location=us-central1
   gcloud pubsub lite-topics delete testTopic --location=us-central1

2. Optional: Revoke the authentication credentials that you created, and delete the local credential file.

   gcloud auth application-default revoke

3. Optional: Revoke credentials from the gcloud CLI.

   gcloud auth revoke

What's next

• Learn more about Lite topics and Lite subscriptions.
• Learn more about sending and receiving messages.
• Look through code samples for the client library.