Google Cloud Run MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

First-party — maintained by GoogleCloudPlatform
Deploy from local folder OR raw file contents (no Docker build needed)
Pull service logs for debugging without leaving the agent
Auth via ADC — the same gcloud auth you already use

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

cloud-run.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloud-run": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloud-run": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloud-run": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloud-run": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "cloud-run",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "cloud-run": {
      "command": {
        "path": "npx",
        "args": [
          "-y",
          "@google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add cloud-run -- npx -y @google-cloud/cloud-run-mcp

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use Google Cloud Run

Deploy a small service to Cloud Run from the agent

👤 Backend engineers, solo founders shipping prototypes ⏱ ~10 min intermediate

When to use: You have a Node/Python service ready. You want it live on Cloud Run without context-switching to the console.

Prerequisites

gcloud SDK installed + authenticated — gcloud auth login && gcloud auth application-default login
A GCP project with billing enabled — gcloud projects list

Flow

List projects, pick the right one

List my GCP projects. I want to deploy to the one tagged with 'staging'.✓ Copied

→ Project identified
Deploy the local folder

Deploy ./my-api as a Cloud Run service named 'api-staging' in us-central1. Allow unauthenticated invocations. Use the auto-detected buildpack.✓ Copied

→ Deploy completes, URL returned
Verify

Get the service details. Call the URL with a curl-style test. Confirm 200.✓ Copied

→ Working service URL

Outcome: A running Cloud Run service in 3-5 minutes, with the agent recording the URL for you.

Pitfalls

Unauthenticated flag exposes the service publicly — great for staging, bad for prod — For anything prod-adjacent, omit allow_unauthenticated and use IAM; front with Cloud Armor if user-facing
Each deploy creates a new revision, old ones linger and pin resources — Periodically clean up old revisions with gcloud, or configure revision retention

Combine with: fastmcp · fastapi-mcp

Diagnose a Cloud Run service from its logs

👤 On-call engineers ⏱ ~10 min intermediate

When to use: A Cloud Run service is returning 500s. You want to see logs without opening the console.

Flow

Pull recent logs

Get the last 200 log entries for service 'api-prod' in us-central1. Filter to ERROR severity.✓ Copied

→ Error log entries
Find patterns

Group the errors by message template. Which one is most common? Include one sample stacktrace.✓ Copied

→ Top error with stacktrace
Propose remediation

Based on the stacktrace, point at the likely code path. Recommend a rollback to the previous revision if the errors are concentrated in the last deploy.✓ Copied

→ Root cause hypothesis + action

Outcome: From alert to rollback decision in 5 minutes.

Pitfalls

Log retention is short by default (30 days) — For anything you might need to look at later, export logs to BigQuery or GCS via Log Router

Combine with: sentry

Deploy an MCP server (FastMCP / fastapi-mcp) to Cloud Run

👤 Platform engineers hosting shared MCPs ⏱ ~30 min advanced

When to use: You built an MCP server and want it hosted for team-wide use.

Prerequisites

Dockerfile or buildpack-compatible project — Cloud Run can use buildpacks for most languages

Flow

Deploy the server

Deploy ./my-mcp as Cloud Run service 'acme-mcp', region us-central1. Set env vars from my .env.prod. Require authentication.✓ Copied

→ Service deployed behind IAM
Grant IAM access

Grant role 'roles/run.invoker' on this service to [email protected] group.✓ Copied

→ Team can now invoke
Wire clients

Write the Claude Desktop config that connects via gcloud run services proxy or mcp-remote with IAM token.✓ Copied

→ Team has copy-paste setup

Outcome: A team-hosted MCP with GCP-native auth, same deploy model as your other services.

Pitfalls

SSE connections drop on Cloud Run's default 5-minute request timeout — Set --timeout=3600 on the service; MCP connections need longer idle tolerance

Combine with: fastmcp · fastapi-mcp · mcp-context-forge

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

cloud-run + fastmcp

Write a Python MCP, deploy to Cloud Run in one session

Scaffold a FastMCP server exposing our pricing API, then deploy it to Cloud Run service 'pricing-mcp' with IAM auth.✓ Copied

cloud-run + sentry

Cloud Run errors → Sentry for incident triage

If our Cloud Run service's error rate spikes, pull Sentry's matching issue and correlate stack traces with the last deploy.✓ Copied

cloud-run + mcp-context-forge

Host ContextForge itself on Cloud Run to federate MCPs

Deploy mcp-contextforge-gateway to Cloud Run with Redis for federation state. Register our 3 existing MCPs as backends.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
list-projects		Discover which project to target (local only)	free
create-project	name, project_id?	Bootstrap a new GCP project (local only)	free
list-services	project, region?	See what's running in a project/region	free
get-service	project, region, service	Inspect a specific service's config	free
get-service-log	project, region, service, filter?, limit?	Debugging — pull recent logs	free
deploy-local-folder	folder_path, service, region, project, allow_unauthenticated?	Deploy code you have locally (local only)	free (build) + per-request Cloud Run pricing
deploy-file-contents	files: {path,content}[], service, region, project	Deploy agent-generated code without local files	free (build) + per-request Cloud Run pricing

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: GCP quotas — generous for Cloud Run deploy API
Tokens per call: Log responses can be large — paginate or filter aggressively
Monetary: Cloud Run: free tier ~2M req/month, then ~$0.40 per million req + $0.000024 per vCPU-sec
Tip: Set min-instances=0 for non-critical services — cold starts hurt but cost drops to near-zero at idle

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Minimum scopes: roles/run.admin roles/iam.serviceAccountUser

Credential storage: Application Default Credentials via gcloud auth application-default login — no key files

Data egress: Calls to *.googleapis.com

Never grant: roles/owner

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Permission denied on deploy

Your account needs roles/run.admin AND roles/iam.serviceAccountUser on the runtime service account. Check via gcloud projects get-iam-policy.

Build failed with 'buildpack not detected'

Add a Dockerfile, or a file that buildpacks recognize (package.json for Node, requirements.txt for Python, etc.).

Service deployed but returns 403

Either allow_unauthenticated wasn't set, or your invoking identity lacks roles/run.invoker. Decide: public or IAM-gated.

SSE MCP connections hang / drop

Increase --timeout=3600 and ensure min-instances=1 to avoid cold start disconnects.

Alternatives

Google Cloud Run vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
Vercel (for Next.js)	You're specifically hosting a Next.js app	Simpler DX for Next.js; narrower than Cloud Run
AWS App Runner / Lambda MCP	You're on AWS	Comparable serverless model, different ecosystem
Fly.io	You want global edge by default and simpler pricing	Smaller ecosystem; no official MCP yet

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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