Getting Started with GCP Projects

Now that you understand the fundamentals of Google Cloud — the global infrastructure, resource hierarchy, management tools, billing, and support — it is time to put that knowledge into practice. This lesson walks you through creating your first GCP project, enabling APIs, deploying resources, and following best practices from the start.

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Creating Your First Project

A project is the fundamental organising unit in GCP. Every resource you create must belong to a project. Here is how to create one:

Via the Cloud Console

1. Navigate to console.cloud.google.com
2. Click the project selector dropdown at the top of the page
3. Click New Project
4. Enter a Project Name (e.g., "My First GCP Project")
5. Select an Organisation and Folder (if applicable)
6. Click Create

Via the gcloud CLI

# Create a new project
gcloud projects create my-first-project \
  --name="My First GCP Project"

# Set it as the active project
gcloud config set project my-first-project

Project Naming Best Practices

Convention	Example
Include environment	prod-api, dev-data-pipeline, staging-web
Include team or function	eng-backend, ds-ml-platform, ops-monitoring
Use hyphens, not underscores	my-project (not my_project)
Keep it descriptive but concise	prod-payment-service

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Linking a Billing Account

Before you can create resources that cost money, your project must be linked to a billing account.

Via the Cloud Console

1. Navigate to Billing in the Cloud Console
2. Select the project
3. Click Link a Billing Account
4. Select an existing billing account or create a new one

Via the gcloud CLI

# Link a billing account to a project
gcloud billing projects link my-first-project \
  --billing-account=BILLING_ACCOUNT_ID

If you are using the Free Trial, your billing account is created automatically with the $300 credit.

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Enabling APIs

GCP requires you to enable APIs before you can use them. This is a security and governance feature — only the APIs you explicitly enable are available in your project.

Via the Cloud Console

1. Navigate to APIs & Services > Library
2. Search for the API (e.g., "Compute Engine API")
3. Click on the API
4. Click Enable

Via the gcloud CLI

# Enable the Compute Engine API
gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com

# Enable multiple APIs at once
gcloud services enable \
  compute.googleapis.com \
  storage.googleapis.com \
  bigquery.googleapis.com

# List enabled APIs
gcloud services list --enabled

Commonly Enabled APIs

API	Purpose
compute.googleapis.com	Compute Engine (VMs)
storage.googleapis.com	Cloud Storage
bigquery.googleapis.com	BigQuery
container.googleapis.com	Google Kubernetes Engine
cloudfunctions.googleapis.com	Cloud Functions
run.googleapis.com	Cloud Run
sqladmin.googleapis.com	Cloud SQL
iam.googleapis.com	Identity and Access Management

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Deploying Your First Resource

Let us deploy a simple Compute Engine virtual machine:

Via the Cloud Console

1. Navigate to Compute Engine > VM Instances
2. Click Create Instance
3. Configure the VM:
   • Name: my-first-vm
   • Region: us-central1
   • Zone: us-central1-a
   • Machine type: e2-micro (eligible for Always Free)
   • Boot disk: Debian GNU/Linux 12
4. Click Create

Via the gcloud CLI

# Create a Compute Engine instance
gcloud compute instances create my-first-vm \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --machine-type=e2-micro \
  --image-family=debian-12 \
  --image-project=debian-cloud

# SSH into the instance
gcloud compute ssh my-first-vm --zone=us-central1-a

# List all instances
gcloud compute instances list

# Stop the instance (to save costs)
gcloud compute instances stop my-first-vm --zone=us-central1-a

# Delete the instance (when you no longer need it)
gcloud compute instances delete my-first-vm --zone=us-central1-a

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Setting Up IAM

Even for a personal project, good IAM practices from the start will serve you well:

Key Principles