> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dataraven.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Google Cloud Storage

> Connect Google Cloud Storage buckets as sources and destinations for transfer tasks.

Google Cloud Storage buckets, authenticated with a service account key.

## At a Glance

|                   |                                                       |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Region**        | Optional                                              |
| **Endpoint URL**  | Not needed                                            |
| **Credentials**   | Service account — `service_account_json`              |
| **Task defaults** | None — GCS works well with rclone's standard behavior |

## Credentials

Create a [secret](/secrets) with the **Google Cloud Storage** provider type. The auth method is
`gcs_service_account`, which requires:

| Field                  | Description                              |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| `service_account_json` | The entire service account JSON key file |

The `service_account_json` field expects the **entire JSON key file** contents as a string. Copy
the full JSON output from `gcloud iam service-accounts keys create` — don't extract individual
fields.

## Location Setup

| Field             | Value                                                                                       |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **region**        | Optional — GCS handles routing automatically; set it for documentation purposes if you like |
| **endpoint\_url** | Leave blank                                                                                 |

Example:

| Field          | Example value        |
| -------------- | -------------------- |
| name           | `GCS Data Lake`      |
| location\_type | Google Cloud Storage |
| bucket\_name   | `acme-data-lake`     |

## Importing from rclone.conf

GCS remotes appear in `rclone.conf` as `type = gcs` (or `type = google cloud storage`). The
importer needs the credentials **inline** via `service_account_credentials`; a remote that uses
`service_account_file` (a local file path) cannot be imported — paste the JSON inline in your
`rclone.conf` first, or create the secret manually. See the
[rclone import guide](/guides/import-rclone-config).