Launching Cloud Shell

A Cloud Shell session can be launched in different ways to best fit your use case.

Launching from the Console

The most straightforward way to launch a Cloud Shell session is to use the Activate Cloud Shell button in your Cloud Console. This will launch a session in the bottom pane of your Console.

Launching with an Open in Cloud Shell link

If you'd like your users to experiment with your project or code samples without having to worry about downloading the Cloud SDK or installing dependencies, use the Open in Cloud Shell(OiCS) feature. It allows you to construct and publish a URL that automatically performs certain actions upon Cloud Shell launch, such as cloning a Git repository or opening a tutorial. This option has the added advantage of allowing you to customize the launched Cloud Shell experience by supporting the inclusion of URL parameters when crafting an OiCS link.

Launching and connecting locally to Cloud Shell with the gcloud command-line tool

Alpha

This feature is covered by the Pre-GA Offerings Terms of the Google Cloud Platform Terms of Service. Pre-GA features may have limited support, and changes to pre-GA features may not be compatible with other pre-GA versions. For more information, see the launch stage descriptions.

If you'd like to interact with and connect to your Cloud Shell environment using a local command-line, you'll need to install Cloud SDK. Using the gcloud command-line tool, specifically the gcloud alpha cloud-shell command group, you can copy files between your local machine and Cloud Shell environment as well as establish an interactive SSH session with Cloud Shell.