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

• 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)

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

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

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

• 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

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

• -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)

# 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

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.

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.

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

MIT - see the LICENSE file for details.