---
name: gcp-cloud-functions
description: >
  Deploy serverless functions on Google Cloud Platform with triggers, IAM roles,
  environment variables, and monitoring. Use for event-driven computing on GCP.
---

# GCP Cloud Functions

## Table of Contents

- [Overview](#overview)
- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [Quick Start](#quick-start)
- [Reference Guides](#reference-guides)
- [Best Practices](#best-practices)

## Overview

Google Cloud Functions enables event-driven serverless computing on Google Cloud Platform. Build functions with automatic scaling, integrated security, and seamless integration with Google Cloud services for rapid development.

## When to Use

- HTTP APIs and webhooks
- Pub/Sub message processing
- Storage bucket events
- Firestore database triggers
- Cloud Scheduler jobs
- Real-time data processing
- Image and video processing
- Data pipeline orchestration

## Quick Start

Minimal working example:

```bash
# Install Google Cloud SDK
curl https://sdk.cloud.google.com | bash
exec -l $SHELL

# Initialize and authenticate
gcloud init
gcloud auth application-default login

# Set project
gcloud config set project MY_PROJECT_ID

# Create service account
gcloud iam service-accounts create cloud-function-sa \
  --display-name "Cloud Function Service Account"

# Grant permissions
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding MY_PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:cloud-function-sa@MY_PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role="roles/cloudfunctions.invoker"

# Deploy HTTP function
gcloud functions deploy my-http-function \
  --gen2 \
  --runtime nodejs18 \
  --region us-central1 \
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)
```

## Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the `references/` directory:

| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| [Cloud Function Creation with gcloud CLI](references/cloud-function-creation-with-gcloud-cli.md) | Cloud Function Creation with gcloud CLI |
| [Cloud Functions Implementation (Node.js)](references/cloud-functions-implementation-nodejs.md) | Cloud Functions Implementation (Node.js) |
| [Terraform Cloud Functions Configuration](references/terraform-cloud-functions-configuration.md) | Terraform Cloud Functions Configuration |

## Best Practices

### ✅ DO

- Use service accounts with least privilege
- Store secrets in Secret Manager
- Implement proper error handling
- Use environment variables for configuration
- Monitor with Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring
- Set appropriate memory and timeout
- Use event filters to reduce invocations
- Implement idempotent functions

### ❌ DON'T

- Store secrets in code
- Use default service account
- Create long-running functions
- Ignore error handling
- Deploy without testing
- Use unauthenticated access for sensitive functions