Google Compute Engine API
Browse all Google APIs✓ Official Vendor SpecCloud InfrastructureComputeoauth2802 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Provision VMs, disks, networks, firewalls, and load balancers on Google Cloud across more than 800 endpoints. Lets agents stand up and operate full Compute Engine infrastructure programmatically.
Use for: I need to create a Compute Engine VM, Stop a running VM instance, Resize a managed instance group to handle more load, Create a persistent disk and attach it to an instance
Not supported: Does not run managed Kubernetes, serverless containers, or managed databases — use for IaaS primitives (VMs, disks, networks, load balancers) on Google Cloud only.
The Compute Engine API creates and runs virtual machines on Google Cloud Platform and is one of the largest control surfaces in GCP, covering instances, instance groups, disks, images, networks, subnetworks, firewalls, load balancers, routers, VPNs, and global networking primitives. It is the foundation for IaaS workloads on Google Cloud and is the same API the gcloud CLI and Terraform provider use under the hood. Most platform teams interact with a focused subset around instances, disks, and networking rather than the full surface.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Compute Engine API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Compute Engine API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Compute Engine API.
Create, start, stop, reset, and delete VM instances per zone
Take incremental snapshots of persistent disks and restore disks from snapshots
Configure VPC networks, subnets, firewall rules, and routes
Resize and roll out updates to managed instance groups
Provision global HTTP load balancers with backend services and URL maps
Manage VM service accounts and access scopes
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Compute Engine API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Programmatic VM Provisioning
Create Compute Engine VMs from automation, CI/CD pipelines, or platform tooling without going through the Cloud Console. The instances.insert endpoint accepts the machine type, image, network, and metadata, and the API returns a long-running operation that resolves once the VM is RUNNING. This is the core building block for self-service developer environments and ephemeral build runners.
Create a VM named build-runner-42 in us-central1-a from image debian-12 with machine type n1-standard-2 and the default VPC
Managed Instance Group Autoscaling
Operate managed instance groups that scale a stateless web service in response to load. The API exposes resize, recreateInstances, and policy update endpoints so platform teams can codify scale events, rolling restarts, and version rollouts without manual clicks. Most teams keep the autoscaler in charge for normal load and use the API only for surgical interventions.
Resize managed instance group projects/acme/regions/us-central1/instanceGroupManagers/web from 4 to 12 and wait for the operation to complete
Network And Firewall Codification
Define VPCs, subnets, firewall rules, and routes through the API so the network topology is codified rather than clicked together. Compute Engine exposes networks, subnetworks, firewalls, and routers under one API, which keeps Terraform-style automation, drift detection, and disaster recovery rebuilds straightforward.
Create a firewall rule allow-https in the default network that permits TCP/443 from 0.0.0.0/0 to instances tagged web-server
Disk Snapshot Backup And Restore
Snapshot persistent disks on a schedule and restore from them to recover from accidental deletions or corruption. The disks.createSnapshot endpoint takes an incremental snapshot stored in Cloud Storage, and disks.insert with sourceSnapshot creates a new disk from any prior snapshot, giving operators a fast point-in-time recovery path.
Take a snapshot of disk projects/acme/zones/us-central1-a/disks/db-data named db-data-2026-06-10 and store it in the default project
Agent-Driven Infrastructure Operations
An AI agent can run controlled infrastructure operations — restart a stuck VM, expand a disk, or open a firewall port for a debug session — by calling Compute Engine through Jentic. Because Jentic returns the operation schema, the agent can target the exact endpoint it needs out of the 800+ surface area without parsing the discovery doc.
Use Jentic to call instances.reset on projects/acme/zones/us-central1-a/instances/api-server-3 and poll the returned operation until DONE
Key Endpoints
802 endpoints — the compute engine api creates and runs virtual machines on google cloud platform and is one of the largest control surfaces in gcp, covering instances, instance groups, disks, images, networks, subnetworks, firewalls, load balancers, routers, vpns, and global networking primitives.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances
Create a VM instance in a zone
GET
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances
List VM instances in a zone
POST
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances/{instance}/reset
Hard-reset a running VM instance
POST
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/disks/{disk}/createSnapshot
Snapshot a persistent disk for backup
POST
/projects/{project}/global/firewalls
Create a firewall rule on a VPC network
POST
/projects/{project}/regions/{region}/instanceGroupManagers/{instanceGroupManager}/resize
Resize a managed instance group
POST
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances
Create a VM instance in a zone
GET
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances
List VM instances in a zone
POST
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances/{instance}/reset
Hard-reset a running VM instance
POST
/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/disks/{disk}/createSnapshot
Snapshot a persistent disk for backup
POST
/projects/{project}/global/firewalls
Create a firewall rule on a VPC network
POST
/projects/{project}/regions/{region}/instanceGroupManagers/{instanceGroupManager}/resize
Resize a managed instance group
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Google OAuth 2.0 refresh tokens for Compute Engine are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive only scoped short-lived access tokens, and VM-level service account credentials stay attached to the VM rather than transiting through the agent.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic with intents like 'create gcp vm' or 'add firewall rule' and Jentic returns the specific operation out of Compute Engine's 800+ endpoint surface along with its request schema.
Time to first call
Direct integration with Compute Engine: 3-10 days to learn the relevant resource subset, OAuth, and long-running operation polling. Through Jentic: under 1 hour for a focused task — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Compute Engine API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Compute Engine API use?
It uses Google OAuth 2.0 with scopes such as https://www.googleapis.com/auth/compute and the broader cloud-platform scope. Through Jentic the OAuth credentials are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault and the agent receives only short-lived access tokens at execution time.
Can I create and start a VM with a single API call?
Yes. Send a POST to /compute/v1/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances with the machine type, source image, network interface, and metadata. The endpoint returns a long-running operation that resolves once the VM transitions to RUNNING.
What are the rate limits for the Compute Engine API?
Compute Engine enforces per-project read and write quotas per minute, with regional resource quotas (CPUs, IPs, disks) governing actual provisioning. Heavy automation should batch reads, use list pagination, and respect the operation polling backoff so you do not exhaust the per-minute control-plane budget.
How do I provision a VM through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'create gcp vm', load the instances.insert schema, and execute the call against /compute/v1/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/instances with the machine type, source image, and network. Jentic returns the schema so the agent fills only the required fields out of Compute Engine's 800+ endpoint surface.
Is the Compute Engine API free?
The API has no per-call charge — you pay only for the underlying resources you create such as VM-hours, persistent disks, and egress. Free-tier credits cover small e2-micro instances in eligible regions.
How do I take a disk snapshot for backup?
Call POST on /compute/v1/projects/{project}/zones/{zone}/disks/{disk}/createSnapshot with a name and labels. Snapshots are incremental and stored in Cloud Storage, and a new disk can be created from any snapshot via disks.insert with sourceSnapshot.
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