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Before you can use the Cloud Vision API, you must enable it for your project:
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.
In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page,
select or create a Google Cloud project.
In the Service account name field, enter a name. The Google Cloud console fills
in the Service account ID field based on this name.
In the Service account description field, enter a description. For example,
Service account for quickstart.
Click Create and continue.
Grant the Project > Owner role to the service account.
To grant the role, find the Select a role list, then select
Project > Owner.
Click Continue.
Click Done to finish creating the service account.
Do not close your browser window. You will use it in the next step.
Create a service account key:
In the Google Cloud console, click the email address for the service account that you
created.
Click Keys.
Click Add key, and then click Create new key.
Click Create. A JSON key file is downloaded to your computer.
Click Close.
Set the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS
to the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.
This variable applies only to your current shell session, so if you open
a new session, set the variable again.
Example: Linux or macOS
exportGOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="KEY_PATH"
Replace KEY_PATH with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.
In the Service account name field, enter a name. The Google Cloud console fills
in the Service account ID field based on this name.
In the Service account description field, enter a description. For example,
Service account for quickstart.
Click Create and continue.
Grant the Project > Owner role to the service account.
To grant the role, find the Select a role list, then select
Project > Owner.
Click Continue.
Click Done to finish creating the service account.
Do not close your browser window. You will use it in the next step.
Create a service account key:
In the Google Cloud console, click the email address for the service account that you
created.
Click Keys.
Click Add key, and then click Create new key.
Click Create. A JSON key file is downloaded to your computer.
Click Close.
Set the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS
to the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.
This variable applies only to your current shell session, so if you open
a new session, set the variable again.
Example: Linux or macOS
exportGOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="KEY_PATH"
Replace KEY_PATH with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.
[[["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 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Before you begin\n\n| **Note:** Vision API Product Search is a Cloud Vision API feature. Consequently, you must enable the Vision API to use Vision API Product Search.\n\nBefore you can use the Cloud Vision API, you must enable it for your project:\n\n- Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, [create an account](https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial) to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.\n- In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page,\n select or create a Google Cloud project.\n\n | **Note**: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.\n\n [Go to project selector](https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector2/home/dashboard)\n-\n [Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project](/billing/docs/how-to/verify-billing-enabled#confirm_billing_is_enabled_on_a_project).\n\n-\n\n\n Enable the Vision API.\n\n\n [Enable the API](https://console.cloud.google.com/flows/enableapi?apiid=vision.googleapis.com)\n-\n Create a service account:\n\n 1.\n In the Google Cloud console, go to the **Create service account** page.\n\n [Go to Create service account](https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector/iam-admin/serviceaccounts/create?supportedpurview=project)\n 2. Select your project.\n 3.\n In the **Service account name** field, enter a name. The Google Cloud console fills\n in the **Service account ID** field based on this name.\n\n\n In the **Service account description** field, enter a description. For example,\n `Service account for quickstart`.\n 4. Click **Create and continue**.\n 5.\n Grant the **Project \\\u003e Owner** role to the service account.\n\n\n To grant the role, find the **Select a role** list, then select\n **Project \\\u003e Owner**.\n | **Note** : The **Role** field affects which resources the service account can access in your project. You can revoke these roles or grant additional roles later. In production environments, do not grant the Owner, Editor, or Viewer roles. Instead, grant a [predefined role](/iam/docs/understanding-roles#predefined_roles) or [custom role](/iam/docs/understanding-custom-roles) that meets your needs.\n 6. Click **Continue**.\n 7.\n Click **Done** to finish creating the service account.\n\n\n Do not close your browser window. You will use it in the next step.\n-\n Create a service account key:\n\n 1. In the Google Cloud console, click the email address for the service account that you created.\n 2. Click **Keys**.\n 3. Click **Add key** , and then click **Create new key**.\n 4. Click **Create**. A JSON key file is downloaded to your computer.\n 5. Click **Close**.\n-\n Set the environment variable `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS`\n to the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n This variable applies only to your current shell session, so if you open\n a new session, set the variable again.\n\n **Example:** Linux or macOS \n\n ```bash\n export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e\"\n ```\n\n Replace \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n\n For example: \n\n ```bash\n export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"/home/user/Downloads/service-account-file.json\"\n ```\n **Example:** Windows\n\n For PowerShell: \n\n ```bash\n $env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e\"\n ```\n\n Replace \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n\n For example: \n\n ```bash\n $env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"C:\\Users\\username\\Downloads\\service-account-file.json\"\n ```\n\n For command prompt: \n\n set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e\n\n Replace \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n\n- In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page,\n select or create a Google Cloud project.\n\n | **Note**: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.\n\n [Go to project selector](https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector2/home/dashboard)\n-\n [Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project](/billing/docs/how-to/verify-billing-enabled#confirm_billing_is_enabled_on_a_project).\n\n-\n\n\n Enable the Vision API.\n\n\n [Enable the API](https://console.cloud.google.com/flows/enableapi?apiid=vision.googleapis.com)\n-\n Create a service account:\n\n 1.\n In the Google Cloud console, go to the **Create service account** page.\n\n [Go to Create service account](https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector/iam-admin/serviceaccounts/create?supportedpurview=project)\n 2. Select your project.\n 3.\n In the **Service account name** field, enter a name. The Google Cloud console fills\n in the **Service account ID** field based on this name.\n\n\n In the **Service account description** field, enter a description. For example,\n `Service account for quickstart`.\n 4. Click **Create and continue**.\n 5.\n Grant the **Project \\\u003e Owner** role to the service account.\n\n\n To grant the role, find the **Select a role** list, then select\n **Project \\\u003e Owner**.\n | **Note** : The **Role** field affects which resources the service account can access in your project. You can revoke these roles or grant additional roles later. In production environments, do not grant the Owner, Editor, or Viewer roles. Instead, grant a [predefined role](/iam/docs/understanding-roles#predefined_roles) or [custom role](/iam/docs/understanding-custom-roles) that meets your needs.\n 6. Click **Continue**.\n 7.\n Click **Done** to finish creating the service account.\n\n\n Do not close your browser window. You will use it in the next step.\n-\n Create a service account key:\n\n 1. In the Google Cloud console, click the email address for the service account that you created.\n 2. Click **Keys**.\n 3. Click **Add key** , and then click **Create new key**.\n 4. Click **Create**. A JSON key file is downloaded to your computer.\n 5. Click **Close**.\n-\n Set the environment variable `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS`\n to the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n This variable applies only to your current shell session, so if you open\n a new session, set the variable again.\n\n **Example:** Linux or macOS \n\n ```bash\n export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e\"\n ```\n\n Replace \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n\n For example: \n\n ```bash\n export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"/home/user/Downloads/service-account-file.json\"\n ```\n **Example:** Windows\n\n For PowerShell: \n\n ```bash\n $env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e\"\n ```\n\n Replace \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n\n For example: \n\n ```bash\n $env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\"C:\\Users\\username\\Downloads\\service-account-file.json\"\n ```\n\n For command prompt: \n\n set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e\n\n Replace \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eKEY_PATH\u003c/var\u003e with the path of the JSON file that contains your credentials.\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e"]]
