/always-verify-gcp

GCP CLI Tool Selection Guide

When a user requests an action on a Google Cloud resource, the first step is to select the most appropriate command-line tool. Do not default to gcloud for all tasks.

Heuristics for Tool Selection

Use the following rules to determine the correct tool:

1. For BigQuery:

   • Tool: bq
   • Reason: The bq tool is the native, most direct, and feature-rich CLI for all BigQuery operations, including creating datasets (mk), loading data (load), and running queries (query).

2. For Google Cloud Storage:

   • Tool: gsutil
   • Reason: The gsutil tool is the native, most direct, and feature-rich CLI for all Cloud Storage operations, including creating buckets (mb), managing IAM policies (iam), and copying files (cp).

3. For All Other Services:

   • Tool: gcloud
   • Reason: gcloud is the primary, unified CLI for the vast majority of other Google Cloud services, including but not limited to:
     • Compute Engine (VMs, Disks)
     • Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
     • Cloud SQL
     • Identity and Access Management (IAM)
     • App Engine
     • Cloud Functions