Google Cloud Platform Knowledge Patch

Claude's baseline knowledge covers GCP through ~2024. This skill provides changes from 2025 onwards: the Gen AI SDK replacing Vertex AI, new Gemini models, Cloud Run improvements, Container Registry shutdown, and the Agent Development Kit.

Reference Index

• references/gen-ai-sdk.md — Google Gen AI SDK (replaces Vertex AI SDK): installation, client setup, migration patterns, API changes
• references/gemini-models.md — Current Gemini model lineup, image generation, embeddings
• references/cloud-run.md — Worker pools, Compose deployment, IAP without load balancer
• references/artifact-registry.md — Container Registry shutdown, migration to Artifact Registry
• references/agent-development-kit.md — ADK framework for multi-agent AI systems

Quick Reference

Gen AI SDK — Migration Summary

The vertexai.generative_models module is deprecated (removal after June 24, 2026). Use the Google Gen AI SDK.

Language	Old package	New package
Python	google-cloud-aiplatform	pip install google-genai
Node.js	@google-cloud/vertexai	npm install @google/genai
Go	cloud.google.com/go/vertexai/genai	go get google.golang.org/genai
Java	com.google.cloud:google-cloud-vertexai	com.google.genai:google-genai

from google import genai
from google.genai.types import HttpOptions

client = genai.Client(http_options=HttpOptions(api_version="v1"))
response = client.models.generate_content(
    model="gemini-2.5-flash",
    contents="Hello",
)
print(response.text)

Vertex AI env vars:

export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=my-project
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=us-central1
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True

Node.js:

import { GoogleGenAI } from '@google/genai';

const ai = new GoogleGenAI({
  vertexai: true,
  project: process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT,
  location: process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION,
});
const response = await ai.models.generateContent({
  model: 'gemini-2.5-flash',
  contents: 'Hello',
});
console.log(response.text);

Go:

client, _ := genai.NewClient(ctx, genai.ClientConfig{
    HTTPOptions: genai.HTTPOptions{APIVersion: "v1"},
})
resp, _ := client.Models.GenerateContent(ctx,
    "gemini-2.5-flash",
    genai.Text("Hello"),
    nil,
)
fmt.Println(resp.Text())

Vertex AI Express Mode — use API key instead of ADC:

client = genai.Client(vertexai=True, api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

Key API pattern changes:

• Config via typed objects: config=types.GenerateContentConfig(system_instruction=..., temperature=0.3)
• Function calling — pass Python functions directly: config=types.GenerateContentConfig(tools=[my_function])
• Embeddings: client.models.embed_content(model="gemini-embedding-001", contents="text", config=EmbedContentConfig(task_type="RETRIEVAL_DOCUMENT"))
• Caching: client.caches.create(model=..., config=CreateCachedContentConfig(contents=..., ttl="86400s"))
• Chat: chat = client.chats.create(model="gemini-2.5-flash", config=...)

See references/gen-ai-sdk.md for full before/after migration examples.

Gemini Models (March 2026)

Model	ID	Status
Gemini 2.0 Flash	gemini-2.0-flash	GA (retires June 2026)
Gemini 2.5 Pro	gemini-2.5-pro	GA
Gemini 2.5 Flash	gemini-2.5-flash	GA
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite	gemini-2.5-flash-lite	GA
Gemini 3 Flash	gemini-3-flash	Preview
Gemini 3.1 Pro	gemini-3.1-pro	Preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite	gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview	Preview

• Image generation: Use gemini-2.5-flash-image or gemini-3.1-flash-image (preview). Imagen endpoints deprecated.
• Embeddings: Use gemini-embedding-001 (replaces text-embedding-005 series).

See references/gemini-models.md for details.

Container Registry → Artifact Registry

Container Registry shut down March 18, 2025. All images must use Artifact Registry.

• Domain: pkg.dev (e.g., us-docker.pkg.dev/my-project/my-repo/image:tag)
• gcr.io URLs now redirect to Artifact Registry if you set up gcr.io repositories
• Commands: gcloud artifacts repositories create / gcloud artifacts docker images list (not gcloud container images)

Cloud Run

Worker pools — new resource type for non-request workloads (background processing, queue consumers). Unlike services, worker pools don't listen for HTTP requests:

gcloud run worker-pools deploy my-worker \
  --image=us-docker.pkg.dev/my-project/repo/worker:latest \
  --region=us-central1

Supports GPU, VPC Direct, Cloud Storage volume mounts.

Compose deployment (GA):

gcloud run deploy --compose=docker-compose.yaml

IAP without load balancer (GA): Configure Identity-Aware Proxy directly on Cloud Run services.

See references/cloud-run.md for details.

Agent Development Kit (ADK)

pip install google-adk     # Python
npm install @google/adk    # TypeScript

Cloud Run auto-detects ADK entrypoints for Python source deployments.

See references/agent-development-kit.md for details.