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Setting Up Your GCP Account

Follow these steps to set up your Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account for deploying applications with Defang.

Step 1: Create Your GCP Account​

Start by creating a Google Cloud account using the GCP account creation flow. If you already have an account skip to the next step.

Google GCP sign up page
Google GCP sign up page

Step 2: Create a GCP Project​

To deploy apps using Defang, you need a GCP project. Projects help organize related resources such as services, IAM policies, quotas, and billing.

If you already have a project, skip to Step 3.

To create a new project:

  1. Visit the GCP Console.
  2. Click the project selector button (it may say "Select a project" or display a previous project name).
GCP console with the project select button highlighted
Select project button to open the project dialog
  1. Follow the prompts to create a new project.
info

Take note of your Project ID — you’ll need it later when setting the GCP_PROJECT_ID environment variable.

GCP project creation dialog
Create a new project in the dialog

Step 3: Create Your Billing Account​

Billing accounts let Google allocate costs to specific entities or users. You’ll need one to deploy services.

  1. In the GCP Console, open the navigation menu.
  2. Select Billing.
Billing option in GCP menu
Billing menu option
  1. In the billing side panel, select Manage billing accounts, then click Create account.
  2. Follow the steps to create a billing account. A credit card is required.
Create billing account page
Billing management page

Once your project and billing account are created, link them together:

  1. In the GCP Console, select your project from the project selector.
  2. Open the Billing section again from the left sidebar.
  3. Click Link a billing account.
Link billing account dialog
Link billing account dialog
  1. Choose the billing account to link.
Billing account selection dialog
Select a billing account to link

Step 5: Set Up Your GCP CLI​

To complete your setup, install the gcloud CLI by following the installation guide.

After installation, authenticate with:

gcloud auth application-default login

This will generate your application default credentials used during deployment.

Now you're ready to deploy! See the Deploy to GCP tutorial for next steps.