As an alternative, you can use the - wildcard character instead of the project ID:
projects/-/serviceAccounts/{EMAIL_ADDRESS}
projects/-/serviceAccounts/{UNIQUE_ID}
When possible, avoid using the - wildcard character, because it can cause response messages to contain misleading error codes. For example, if you try to access the service account projects/-/serviceAccounts/fake@example.com, which does not exist, the response contains an HTTP 403 Forbidden error instead of a 404 Not
Found error.
Authorization requires the following IAM permission on the specified resource name:
iam.serviceAccountKeys.create
Request body
The request body contains data with the following structure:
The public key to associate with the service account. Must be an RSA public key that is wrapped in an X.509 v3 certificate. Include the first line, -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----, and the last line, -----END CERTIFICATE-----.
A base64-encoded string.
Response body
If successful, the response body contains an instance of ServiceAccountKey.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-05-21 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis API uploads a public key for a service account, allowing the corresponding private key to be used as a service account key.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe HTTP request uses a POST method to a specific URL format that includes the project and service account details in the path.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe request requires a string \u003ccode\u003ename\u003c/code\u003e parameter, which represents the resource name of the service account key, using specified formats with or without wildcards.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe request body must include \u003ccode\u003epublicKeyData\u003c/code\u003e in JSON format, which is a base64-encoded X.509 v3 certificate containing an RSA public key.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSuccessful requests will return an instance of \u003ccode\u003eServiceAccountKey\u003c/code\u003e in the response body and requires one of the specified OAuth scopes for authorization.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Method: projects.serviceAccounts.keys.upload\n\n- [HTTP request](#body.HTTP_TEMPLATE)\n- [Path parameters](#body.PATH_PARAMETERS)\n- [Request body](#body.request_body)\n - [JSON representation](#body.request_body.SCHEMA_REPRESENTATION)\n- [Response body](#body.response_body)\n- [Authorization scopes](#body.aspect)\n- [Examples](#examples)\n- [Try it!](#try-it)\n\nUploads the public key portion of a key pair that you manage, and associates the public key with a [ServiceAccount](/iam/docs/reference/rest/v1/projects.serviceAccounts#ServiceAccount).\n\nAfter you upload the public key, you can use the private key from the key pair as a service account key.\n\n### HTTP request\n\n`POST https://iam.googleapis.com/v1/{name=projects/*/serviceAccounts/*}/keys:upload`\n\nThe URL uses [gRPC Transcoding](https://google.aip.dev/127) syntax.\n\n### Path parameters\n\n### Request body\n\nThe request body contains data with the following structure:\n\n### Response body\n\nIf successful, the response body contains an instance of [ServiceAccountKey](/iam/docs/reference/rest/v1/projects.serviceAccounts.keys#ServiceAccountKey).\n\n### Authorization scopes\n\nRequires one of the following OAuth scopes:\n\n- `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/iam`\n- `\n https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform`\n\nFor more information, see the [Authentication Overview](/docs/authentication#authorization-gcp)."]]
