google-cloud-compute
Google Cloud Compute API client library
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. This is Google's official, actively maintained client library for Compute Engine with no known vulnerabilities, permissive licensing, and low install friction. Install it if you need to manage Google Cloud VMs or infrastructure from Python. It is a standard choice for anyone automating Compute Engine resources.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python >= 3.10; Google Cloud authentication credentials must be configured (via Application Default Credentials, service account key, or explicit credentials).
- Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution.
- Actively maintained with a recent release (29 days old) and no known security vulnerabilities.
License · maintenance · safety
Apache-2.0 (permissive) — Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute the package provided you include the license notice.
last release 2026-07-16 (29 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 5,371 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 146,386,176 downloads/mo, #273 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install google-cloud-compute
from google.cloud import compute_v1
client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()
request = compute_v1.ListInstancesRequest(
project='my-project',
zone='us-central1-a'
)
instances = client.list(request=request)- Whether the library supports all current Compute Engine features or if some advanced APIs require direct REST calls.
- Performance characteristics and rate-limiting behavior for large-scale VM operations.
- Compatibility with specific Google Cloud SDK versions or other Google Cloud Python libraries.
What it is and what it does
This is Google's official Python client for Compute Engine, the IaaS product that lets you manage virtual machines and bare metal instances on Google Cloud. It wraps the Compute Engine REST API, allowing you to create, list, modify, and delete VM instances, manage networks, storage, and other infrastructure resources programmatically from Python code.
The library handles authentication via google-auth, serializes requests using protobuf and proto-plus, and communicates with Google's servers over gRPC and HTTP. It requires Python 3.10 or later and depends on google-api-core for common client patterns. Most developers use it to automate infrastructure provisioning, manage instance lifecycles, or build deployment pipelines that interact with Compute Engine.
Use it for
- Automate VM instance creation, startup, and shutdown as part of infrastructure-as-code workflows.
- Build deployment pipelines that provision and configure compute resources on demand.
- Query and monitor running instances, networks, and storage resources across projects.
- Manage instance metadata, tags, and labels for organization and cost tracking.
- Integrate Compute Engine operations into Python-based DevOps or orchestration tools.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
This is Google's official, actively maintained client library for Compute Engine with no known vulnerabilities, permissive licensing, and low install friction. Install it if you need to manage Google Cloud VMs or infrastructure from Python. It is a standard choice for anyone automating Compute Engine resources.
Install
google-cloud-compute on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a recent release (29 days old) and no known security vulnerabilities. Depends on standard Google Cloud authentication and protocol libraries.
Requires Python >= 3.10; Google Cloud authentication credentials must be configured (via Application Default Credentials, service account key, or explicit credentials).
License in practice
Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute the package provided you include the license notice.
Quickstart
pip install google-cloud-compute
from google.cloud import compute_v1
client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()
request = compute_v1.ListInstancesRequest(
project='my-project',
zone='us-central1-a'
)
instances = client.list(request=request)Verify before relying
- Whether the library supports all current Compute Engine features or if some advanced APIs require direct REST calls.
- Performance characteristics and rate-limiting behavior for large-scale VM operations.
- Compatibility with specific Google Cloud SDK versions or other Google Cloud Python libraries.
Package facts
| License | Apache-2.0 permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 5 packagesgoogle-api-coregoogle-authgrpcioproto-plusprotobuf |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 29 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 146,386,176 / month, #273 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: Internet |
Evidence: google_cloud_compute-1.50.0-py3-none-any.whl
Tags
Let your AI agent find packages like this
Example. Real query, live index.
You found this page by searching. An agent finds it by wishing: SkillFed indexes 14,416 PyPI packages by what they can do, searchable in plain language.
wish › “google compute engine python client”
- google-cloud-computePython client library for Google Compute Engine that enables…
- google-compute-engineProvides Python bindings and utilities for interacting with Google…
- earthengine-apiPython client library for Google Earth Engine, enabling programmatic…
Give your agent the search over MCP, or paste the wish link into any chat.
More Internet packages
Botocore provides low-level, data-driven access to Amazon Web Services APIs, serving as the foundation for the AWS CLI and boto3 libraries.
Install it if you need programmatic access to AWS services.
Provides an async client for AWS services using botocore and aiohttp, allowing you to call AWS APIs asynchronously within asyncio-based applications.
Install it if you need to call AWS services from async Python code; it is the standard way to do so.
Pydantic validates Python data structures against type hints, coercing and checking input at runtime to ensure it matches a declared schema.
Provides a platform-independent file locking mechanism to coordinate access to files across processes and threads.
FastAPI is a Python web framework for building REST APIs using type hints, with automatic request validation, serialization, and interactive API documentation.
Provides common Protocol Buffer message definitions used across Google Cloud APIs, enabling Python clients to interact with Google services.
See also cudo-compute · google-cloud-os-login · google-cloud-functions · google-cloud-os-config · google-compute-engine · aliyun-python-sdk-ecs · google-cloud-build · google-cloud-dataflow-client · google-cloud-container · python-libmaas