Create and deploy an HTTP Cloud Function by using Python (1st gen)

This guide takes you through the process of writing a Cloud Function using the Python runtime. There are two types of Cloud Functions:

  • An HTTP function, which you invoke from standard HTTP requests.
  • An event-driven function, which you use to handle events from your Cloud infrastructure, such as messages on a Pub/Sub topic, or changes in a Cloud Storage bucket.

The sample shows how to create a simple HTTP function.

Before you begin

  1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.
  2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Go to project selector

  3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  4. Enable the Cloud Functions and Cloud Build APIs.

    Enable the APIs

  5. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Go to project selector

  6. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  7. Enable the Cloud Functions and Cloud Build APIs.

    Enable the APIs

  8. Install and initialize the gcloud CLI.
  9. Update and install gcloud components:
    gcloud components update
  10. Prepare your development environment.

    Go to the Python setup guide

Create a function

  1. Create a directory on your local system for the function code:

    Linux or Mac OS X

    mkdir ~/helloworld
    cd ~/helloworld
    

    Windows

    mkdir %HOMEPATH%\helloworld
    cd %HOMEPATH%\helloworld
    
  2. Create a main.py file in the helloworld directory with the following contents:

    
    import functions_framework
    
    
    from markupsafe import escape
    
    @functions_framework.http
    def hello_http(request):
        """HTTP Cloud Function.
        Args:
            request (flask.Request): The request object.
            <https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/1.1.x/api/#incoming-request-data>
        Returns:
            The response text, or any set of values that can be turned into a
            Response object using `make_response`
            <https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/1.1.x/api/#flask.make_response>.
        """
        request_json = request.get_json(silent=True)
        request_args = request.args
    
        if request_json and "name" in request_json:
            name = request_json["name"]
        elif request_args and "name" in request_args:
            name = request_args["name"]
        else:
            name = "World"
        return f"Hello {escape(name)}!"
    
    

    This example function takes a name supplied in the HTTP request and returns a greeting, or "Hello World!" when no name is supplied.

Specify dependencies

Dependencies in Python are managed with pip and expressed in a metadata file called requirements.txt. This file must be in the same directory as the main.py file that contains your function code.

You don't need to create a requirements.txt to run this particular sample, but suppose you wanted to add your own dependencies. Here's how you would do it:

  1. Create a requirements.txt file in the helloworld directory.

  2. Add the function's dependency, to your requirements.txt file, for example:

    # An example requirements file, add your dependencies below
    sampleproject==2.0.0
    

Deploy the function

To deploy the function with an HTTP trigger, run the following command in the helloworld directory:

gcloud functions deploy hello_http --runtime python312 --trigger-http --allow-unauthenticated

The --allow-unauthenticated flag lets you reach the function without authentication. To require authentication, omit the flag.

Test the function

  1. When the function finishes deploying, take note of the httpsTrigger.url property or find it using the following command:

    gcloud functions describe hello_http
    

    It should look like this:

    https://GCP_REGION-PROJECT_ID.cloudfunctions.net/hello_http
  2. Visit this URL in your browser. You should see a "Hello World!" message.

    Try passing a name in the HTTP request, for example by using the following URL:

    https://GCP_REGION-PROJECT_ID.cloudfunctions.net/hello_http?name=NAME

    You should see the message "Hello NAME!"

View logs

Logs for Cloud Functions are viewable using the Google Cloud CLI, and in the Cloud Logging UI.

Use the command-line tool

To view logs for your function with the gcloud CLI, use the logs read command, followed by the name of the function:

gcloud functions logs read hello_http

The output should resemble the following:

LEVEL  NAME        EXECUTION_ID  TIME_UTC                 LOG
D      hello_http  pdb5ys2t022n  2019-09-18 23:29:09.791  Function execution started
D      hello_http  pdb5ys2t022n  2019-09-18 23:29:09.798  Function execution took 7 ms, finished with status code: 200

Use the Logging dashboard

You can also view logs for Cloud Functions from the Google Cloud console.