Account Setup

Once your team receives GCP credentials, follow these steps to get started.

Log In

Open a new Chrome profile or an incognito window
Go to console.cloud.google.com
Sign in with your @gcplab.me email and password
Select your assigned project from the project dropdown

Tip: Use a separate Chrome profile to keep your competition account separate from personal Google accounts.

Cloud Shell

Cloud Shell is a free terminal built into the Google Cloud console. It comes with Python, git, gcloud CLI, and Docker pre-installed — everything you need to build and deploy.

Open it by clicking the terminal icon in the top-right corner of the console:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Google Cloud    [Search]    >_ 🔔 ❓   │
│                              ↑          │
│                     Click this icon     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Cloud Shell gives you:

A Linux VM with 5 GB persistent home directory
Python 3, Node.js, Go, Java pre-installed
Docker for building container images
gcloud CLI already authenticated with your project
Free to use — no compute charges

Cloud Shell Editor

Need a full IDE? Click "Open Editor" in Cloud Shell or go directly to ide.cloud.google.com.

This is a VS Code-based editor in the browser with:

File explorer, terminal, extensions
Gemini Code Assist — AI coding companion built in
Direct access to your Cloud Shell files

Gemini Tools

Your GCP account includes several AI assistants:

Tool	Where	What it does
Gemini Code Assist	Cloud Shell Editor	AI coding companion in the IDE
Gemini CLI	Cloud Shell terminal	Type `gemini` in the terminal for CLI-based AI help
Gemini Cloud Assist	Console sidebar	Ask questions about GCP services and configuration
AI Studio	aistudio.google.com	Experiment with Gemini models directly

To enable Gemini Cloud Assist, click the Gemini icon in the console and hit "Enable".