Google Cloud Core Library

2.5.0 verified Tue May 12 auth: no python install: stale quickstart: stale

Provides common helpers (e.g., base Client classes) used by all of the google-cloud-* packages. Current version: 2.5.0, released on October 29, 2025. Release cadence: approximately every 3-6 months.

pip install google-cloud-core

Common errors

error ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'google.cloud.client' ↓

cause The 'google-cloud-core' library, which provides base client functionalities for other Google Cloud client libraries, is not installed or incorrectly installed in the Python environment.

fix

pip install google-cloud-core

error google.auth.exceptions.DefaultCredentialsError: Could not automatically determine credentials. Please set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS or explicitly create credentials and pass them to the client. ↓

cause The application cannot find valid Google Cloud credentials in the expected locations, such as the 'GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS' environment variable, application default credentials set by the gcloud CLI, or service account attached to a Google Cloud VM.

fix

Export your service account key file: 'export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/your/keyfile.json' or authenticate via the gcloud CLI: 'gcloud auth application-default login'

error ValueError: Project ID could not be determined. ↓

cause The Google Cloud project ID required for operations could not be automatically determined from credentials or environment variables (e.g., GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT), or an empty string was provided where a project ID was expected.

fix

Set the project ID using 'export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=your-project-id', ensure your credentials contain a 'project_id', or explicitly pass the 'project' argument to your client constructor: 'client = YourServiceClient(project='your-project-id')'

Warnings

breaking Dropped support for Python 2.7 in version 2.0.0. ↓

fix Upgrade to Python 3.6 or later.

deprecated The 'google-cloud-sdk' package is deprecated; use product-specific packages instead. ↓

fix Switch to using individual Google Cloud client libraries.

Install compatibility stale last tested: 2026-05-12

python os / libc status wheel install import disk

3.10 alpine (musl) - - - -

3.10 slim (glibc) - - - -

3.11 alpine (musl) - - - -

3.11 slim (glibc) - - - -

3.12 alpine (musl) - - - -

3.12 slim (glibc) - - - -

3.13 alpine (musl) - - - -

3.13 slim (glibc) - - - -

3.9 alpine (musl) - - - -

3.9 slim (glibc) - - - -

Imports

Client
```
from google.cloud import Client
```
Ensure correct import path to avoid ImportError.

Quickstart stale last tested: 2026-04-23

Basic usage of the Client class from google.cloud.

from google.cloud import Client

client = Client()
# Use the client for Google Cloud operations