Cloud Storage client libraries

This page shows how to get started with the Cloud Client Libraries for the Google Cloud Storage API. Read more about the client libraries for Cloud APIs, including the older Google API Client Libraries, in Client Libraries Explained.

Installing the client library

C++

See the GitHub README for details about this client library's requirements and install dependencies.

C#

For more information, see Setting Up a C# Development Environment.

If you are using Visual Studio 2017 or higher, open nuget package manager window and type the following:

Install-Package Google.Cloud.Storage.V1

If you are using .NET Core command-line interface tools to install your dependencies, run the following command:

dotnet add package Google.Cloud.Storage.V1

Go

For more information, see Setting Up a Go Development Environment.

go get cloud.google.com/go/storage

Java

For more information, see Setting Up a Java Development Environment.

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.

<dependencyManagement>
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
      <artifactId>libraries-bom</artifactId>
      <version>25.4.0</version>
      <type>pom</type>
      <scope>import</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</dependencyManagement>

<dependencies>
  <dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
    <artifactId>google-cloud-storage</artifactId>
  </dependency>

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

implementation platform('com.google.cloud:libraries-bom:25.4.0')

implementation 'com.google.cloud:google-cloud-storage'

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

libraryDependencies += "com.google.cloud" % "google-cloud-storage" % "2.8.1"

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.

Node.js

For more information, see Setting Up a Node.js Development Environment.

npm install --save @google-cloud/storage

PHP

For more information, see Using PHP on Google Cloud.

composer require google/cloud-storage

Python

For more information, see Setting Up a Python Development Environment.

pip install --upgrade google-cloud-storage

Ruby

For more information, see Setting Up a Ruby Development Environment.

gem install google-cloud-storage

Setting up authentication

To run the client library, you must first set up authentication. One way to do that is to create a service account and set an environment variable, as shown in the following steps. For other ways to authenticate, see Authenticating as a service account.

Console

Create a service account:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create service account page.

   Go to Create service account
2. Select your project.

3. In the Service account name field, enter a name. The Google Cloud console fills in the Service account ID field based on this name.

   In the Service account description field, enter a description. For example, Service account for quickstart.

4. Click Create and continue.

5. To provide access to your project, grant the following role(s) to your service account: Project > Owner.

   In the Select a role list, select a role.

   For additional roles, click Add another role and add each additional role.

   Note: The Role field affects which resources your service account can access in your project. You can revoke these roles or grant additional roles later. In production environments, do not grant the Owner, Editor, or Viewer roles. Instead, grant a predefined role or custom role that meets your needs.
6. Click Continue.

7. Click Done to finish creating the service account.

   Do not close your browser window. You will use it in the next step.

Create a service account key:

1. In the Google Cloud console, click the email address for the service account that you created.
2. Click Keys.
3. Click Add key, and then click Create new key.
4. Click Create. A JSON key file is downloaded to your computer.
5. Click Close.

gcloud

Set up authentication:

1. Create the service account:

   gcloud iam service-accounts create NAME

   Replace NAME with a name for the service account.

2. Grant roles to the service account. Run the following command once for each of the following IAM roles: roles/owner:

   gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID --member="serviceAccount:SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" --role=ROLE

   Replace the following:

   • SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME: the name of the service account
   • PROJECT_ID: the project ID where you created the service account
   • ROLE: the role to grant
   Note: The --role flag affects which resources your service account can access in your project. You can revoke these roles or grant additional roles later. In production environments, do not grant the Owner, Editor, or Viewer roles. Instead, grant a predefined role or custom role that meets your needs.

3. Generate the key file:

   gcloud iam service-accounts keys create FILE_NAME.json --iam-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

   Replace the following:

   • FILE_NAME: a name for the key file
   • SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME: the name of the service account
   • PROJECT_ID: the project ID where you created the service account

Provide authentication credentials to your application code by setting the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS. This variable applies only to your current shell session. If you want the variable to apply to future shell sessions, set the variable in your shell startup file, for example in the ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile file.

Linux or macOS

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="KEY_PATH"

Replace KEY_PATH with the path of the JSON file that contains your service account key.

For example:

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/home/user/Downloads/service-account-file.json"

Windows

For PowerShell:

$env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="KEY_PATH"

Replace KEY_PATH with the path of the JSON file that contains your service account key.

For example:

$env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="C:\Users\username\Downloads\service-account-file.json"

For command prompt:

set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=KEY_PATH

Replace KEY_PATH with the path of the JSON file that contains your service account key.

Using the client library

The following example shows how to use the client library.

C++

View on GitHub Feedback

#include "google/cloud/storage/client.h"
#include <iostream>
void StorageQuickstart(std::string const& bucket_name) {
  // Create an aliases to make the code easier to read.
  namespace gcs = ::google::cloud::storage;

  // Create a client to communicate with Google Cloud Storage. This client
  // uses the default configuration for authentication and project id.
  auto client = gcs::Client();

  // Create a bucket
  google::cloud::StatusOr<gcs::BucketMetadata> metadata = client.CreateBucket(
      bucket_name, gcs::BucketMetadata().set_location("US").set_storage_class(
                       gcs::storage_class::Standard()));
  if (!metadata) throw std::runtime_error(metadata.status().message());

  std::cout << "Created bucket " << metadata->name() << "\n";
}

C#

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using Google.Apis.Storage.v1.Data;
using Google.Cloud.Storage.V1;
using System;

public class CreateBucketSample
{
    public Bucket CreateBucket(
        string projectId = "your-project-id",
        string bucketName = "your-unique-bucket-name")
    {
        var storage = StorageClient.Create();
        var bucket = storage.CreateBucket(projectId, bucketName);
        Console.WriteLine($"Created {bucketName}.");
        return bucket;
    }
}

Go

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// Sample storage-quickstart creates a Google Cloud Storage bucket.
package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
)

func main() {
	ctx := context.Background()

	// Sets your Google Cloud Platform project ID.
	projectID := "YOUR_PROJECT_ID"

	// Creates a client.
	client, err := storage.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Failed to create client: %v", err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Sets the name for the new bucket.
	bucketName := "my-new-bucket"

	// Creates a Bucket instance.
	bucket := client.Bucket(bucketName)

	// Creates the new bucket.
	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*10)
	defer cancel()
	if err := bucket.Create(ctx, projectID, nil); err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Failed to create bucket: %v", err)
	}

	fmt.Printf("Bucket %v created.\n", bucketName)
}

Java

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// Imports the Google Cloud client library
import com.google.cloud.storage.Bucket;
import com.google.cloud.storage.BucketInfo;
import com.google.cloud.storage.Storage;
import com.google.cloud.storage.StorageOptions;

public class QuickstartSample {
  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // Instantiates a client
    Storage storage = StorageOptions.getDefaultInstance().getService();

    // The name for the new bucket
    String bucketName = args[0];  // "my-new-bucket";

    // Creates the new bucket
    Bucket bucket = storage.create(BucketInfo.of(bucketName));

    System.out.printf("Bucket %s created.%n", bucket.getName());
  }
}

Node.js

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// Imports the Google Cloud client library
const {Storage} = require('@google-cloud/storage');

// For more information on ways to initialize Storage, please see
// https://googleapis.dev/nodejs/storage/latest/Storage.html

// Creates a client using Application Default Credentials
const storage = new Storage();

// Creates a client from a Google service account key
// const storage = new Storage({keyFilename: 'key.json'});

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
 */
// The ID of your GCS bucket
// const bucketName = 'your-unique-bucket-name';

async function createBucket() {
  // Creates the new bucket
  await storage.createBucket(bucketName);
  console.log(`Bucket ${bucketName} created.`);
}

createBucket().catch(console.error);

PHP

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# Includes the autoloader for libraries installed with composer
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

# Imports the Google Cloud client library
use Google\Cloud\Storage\StorageClient;

# Your Google Cloud Platform project ID
$projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';

# Instantiates a client
$storage = new StorageClient([
    'projectId' => $projectId
]);

# The name for the new bucket
$bucketName = 'my-new-bucket';

# Creates the new bucket
$bucket = $storage->createBucket($bucketName);

echo 'Bucket ' . $bucket->name() . ' created.';

Python

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# Imports the Google Cloud client library
from google.cloud import storage

# Instantiates a client
storage_client = storage.Client()

# The name for the new bucket
bucket_name = "my-new-bucket"

# Creates the new bucket
bucket = storage_client.create_bucket(bucket_name)

print(f"Bucket {bucket.name} created.")

Ruby

View on GitHub Feedback

def quickstart bucket_name:
  # Imports the Google Cloud client library
  require "google/cloud/storage"

  # Instantiates a client
  storage = Google::Cloud::Storage.new

  # The ID to give your GCS bucket
  # bucket_name = "your-unique-bucket-name"

  # Creates the new bucket
  bucket = storage.create_bucket bucket_name

  puts "Bucket #{bucket.name} was created."
end

Note: These samples create a bucket in the default US multi-region with a default storage class of Standard Storage. To create a bucket outside these defaults, see Creating storage buckets.

Using the client library with Cloud Shell Editor

Go

---

For step-by-step guidance on running a client library in Cloud Shell Editor:

1. Click Guide me.

2. You see a panel Learn. Click Start to follow the tutorial.

Guide me

Java

---

For step-by-step guidance on running a client library in Cloud Shell Editor:

1. Click Guide me.

2. You see a panel Learn. Click Start to follow the tutorial.

Guide me

Node.js

---

For step-by-step guidance on running a client library in Cloud Shell Editor:

1. Click Guide me.

2. You see a panel Learn. Click Start to follow the tutorial.

Guide me

Python

---

For step-by-step guidance on running a client library in Cloud Shell Editor:

1. Click Guide me.

2. You see a panel Learn. Click Start to follow the tutorial.

Guide me

More Examples

For more examples of using client libraries with Cloud Storage, see the following how-to guides:

• Creating Storage Buckets
• Uploading Objects
• Downloading Objects
• List of additional guides

Additional resources

C++

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

C#

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

Go

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

Java

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

Node.js

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

PHP

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

Python

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

Ruby

• API Reference Documentation
• Source Code
• GitHub Issue Tracker
• Stack Overflow

Try it for yourself

If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how Cloud Storage performs in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

Try Cloud Storage free