gshell

A lightweight bash wrapper around gcloud alpha cloud-shell that makes working with Google Cloud Shell from your terminal feel natural.

Instead of typing gcloud alpha cloud-shell ssh --authorize-session every time, you just type gshell.

Author: Adeloye Adetayo

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Features

• Quick shell — open an interactive Cloud Shell session (gshell)
• Send / Get — upload or download files and folders (gshell send, gshell get)
• Sync — upload only changed files, fast incremental sync (gshell sync)
• Run — run arbitrary commands remotely (gshell run)
• Browser open — open Cloud Shell in the browser (gshell open)
• Status — show current gcloud account and project info (gshell status)

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Requirements

• Google Cloud SDK (gcloud)
• gcloud alpha components — the installer will detect and offer to set this up for you

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Installation

git clone https://github.com/Spectra010s/gshell.git
cd gshell
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

Then reload your shell:

source ~/.bashrc

The installer will:

• Check if gcloud is installed and offer to open the install page if not
• Check if alpha components are available and offer to install them
• Copy gshell to $PREFIX/bin (works on Termux and standard Linux)
• Set up tab completion automatically

Manual installation

• Copy gshell to a directory on your PATH and make it executable
• Copy gshell-completion.bash into your Bash completion directory and source it

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Files

• gshell — main script (CLI wrapper around Cloud Shell)
• install.sh — installer that copies files and sets up completion
• gshell-completion.bash — Bash tab completion for all subcommands

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Usage

gshell                           # Enter Cloud Shell (interactive SSH)
gshell send [-r] <file|folder>   # Upload file or folder to Cloud Shell
gshell get  [-r] <file|folder>   # Download file or folder from Cloud Shell
gshell sync [-r] <file|folder>   # Sync only changed files to Cloud Shell
gshell run  <command>            # Run a command on Cloud Shell
gshell open                      # Open Cloud Shell in browser
gshell status                    # Show current gcloud project & account info
gshell -v | --version            # Show version
gshell -h | --help               # Show help

Flags

• -r — recursive, for folders on send, get, and sync
• -n / --dry-run — preview what would be transferred without uploading or downloading (available on send and get)

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Examples

# Enter Cloud Shell
gshell

# Upload a single file
gshell send index.html

# Upload a folder
gshell send -r myproject/

# Preview what would be uploaded without transferring
gshell send -n -r myproject/

# Download a file from Cloud Shell
gshell get config.json

# Download a folder
gshell get -r bd/

# Sync a single changed file
gshell sync bd/index.html

# Sync an entire folder (only uploads changed files)
gshell sync -r bd/

# Run a command remotely
gshell run ls ~
gshell run "cd myproject && git status"

# Check your active project and account
gshell status

# Open Cloud Shell in the browser
gshell open

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How sync works

gshell sync compares local and remote files using checksums (md5sum or md5 depending on your system, with a size/mtime fallback). Only files that have changed are uploaded — similar to rsync but built entirely on top of gcloud scp.

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Tab completion

Tab completion is set up automatically by the installer. After reloading your shell, type gshell and press Tab to see all available commands, flags, and file suggestions.

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Contributing

PRs welcome. Keep changes small and focused. Update the README if you change CLI behavior.

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License

MIT - see the LICENSE file for details.