Google Cloud Build

Definition

Google Cloud Build is a fully managed, serverless continuous integration and delivery service on Google Cloud that executes builds defined as a series of steps, each running in a container.

Overview

Cloud Build executes each step of a build as its own container invocation, defined in a `cloudbuild.yaml` file (or Dockerfile-based shorthand), which makes it straightforward to chain together arbitrary tools — compiling code, running tests, building a Docker image, and pushing it to a registry such as Artifact Registry or Docker Hub — without managing any build servers. Builds can be triggered automatically by pushes to a connected GitHub, GitLab, or Cloud Source Repositories branch, or run manually or via API. Because it is serverless, Cloud Build scales build capacity automatically and bills per build-minute rather than requiring always-on infrastructure. It integrates natively with other Google Cloud services such as Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Cloud Run, and IAM, and is often compared to other managed cloud CI/CD services like AWS CodePipeline and Azure Pipelines, or to platform-native tools like GitHub Actions.

Key Features

• Serverless execution with automatic scaling and per-minute billing
• Each build step runs in its own container, chained together in sequence
• Native integration with GKE, Cloud Run, and Artifact Registry
• Triggers from GitHub, GitLab, or Cloud Source Repositories
• Custom build steps using any public or private container image
• IAM-based permissions for build service accounts

Use Cases

Frequently Asked Questions

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