Before you begin using Cloud Workstations, be sure that you have the
required permissions
and that you complete these required setup steps.
You can skip this section if you've already completed this setup.
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.
Make sure that you have a Cloud Workstations Admin IAM role on the
project so that you can create workstation configurations.
To check your IAM roles in the Google Cloud console, go to the
IAM page:
Cloud Workstations are hosted on VMs booted from Compute Engine's preconfigured public
Container-Optimized OS (COS)
images. If the constraints/compute.trustedimageProjects organization
policy constraint is enforced, you must
set image access constraints
to allow users to create boot disks from projects/cos-cloud or all public images.
Optional: Enable the Container File System API to allow faster workstation startup.
Workstation clusters define a group of workstations in a particular region,
manage workstations during their lifecycle, and provide configurable
network connectivity.
Workstation clusters aren't related to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters.
To create a workstation cluster, follow these steps:
In the console,
navigate to the Cloud Workstations>Cluster management page.
From the workstations Cluster management page, click
add_boxCreate.
In the Name field, enter a name for your workstation cluster.
Select the Region that is closest to you.
Optional: To create your workstations inside a
VPC,
expand the Network settings section and select your custom network.
In the Network field, enter the name for your network—for example,
test-network.
In the Subnetwork field, enter the name for your subnetwork—for
example, test-subnetwork.
In the Gateway type section, select Public gateway or
Private gateway.
To make your workstations accessible from public networks, select
Public gateway.
If you require data residency
for data in transit, select Private gateway.
To allow ingress and egress to the workstations service from inside
the selected network, select Private gateway.
For more information about creating a private clusters, see
Configure VPC Service Controls and private clusters
Click Create, which begins the cluster creation process.
Workstation cluster creation can take up to 20 minutes, but in most
cases is only needed once.
Clean up
To delete a workstation cluster from the Google Cloud console:
In the Google Cloud console, go to
Cloud Workstations > Clusters.
Select the checkbox beside the cluster that you want to delete.
Click themore_vertMore options
menu and select Delete to delete the selected workstation cluster.
For more about deleting workstations, workstation configurations,
and Google Cloud projects,
see Delete resources.
[[["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,["# Create a workstation cluster\n\nLearn how to get started creating a workstation cluster with Cloud Workstations.\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\n*** ** * ** ***\n\nTo follow step-by-step guidance for this task directly in the\nGoogle Cloud console, click **Guide me**:\n\n[Guide me](https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial?redirectPath=/?walkthrough_id=workstations--create-cluster)\n\n*** ** * ** ***\n\nBefore you begin\n----------------\n\nBefore you begin using Cloud Workstations, be sure that you have the\n[required permissions](/workstations/docs/access-control#enable_required_roles)\nand that you complete these required setup steps.\nYou can skip this section if you've already completed this setup.\n\nSign 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\nIn the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page,\nselect or create a Google Cloud project.\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\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\nEnable the Cloud Workstations API.\n\n\n[Enable the API](https://console.cloud.google.com/flows/enableapi?apiid=workstations.googleapis.com) \nIn the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page,\nselect or create a Google Cloud project.\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\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\nEnable the Cloud Workstations API.\n\n\n[Enable the API](https://console.cloud.google.com/flows/enableapi?apiid=workstations.googleapis.com)\n1.\n\n\n Enable the Cloud Workstations API.\n\n\n [Enable the API](https://console.cloud.google.com/flows/enableapi?apiid=workstations.googleapis.com)\n2. Make sure that you have a Cloud Workstations Admin IAM role on the\n project so that you can create workstation configurations.\n To check your IAM roles in the Google Cloud console, go to the\n **IAM** page:\n\n [Go to IAM](https://console.cloud.google.com/iam-admin/iam)\n3. Cloud Workstations are hosted on VMs booted from Compute Engine's preconfigured public [Container-Optimized OS (COS)](/compute/docs/images/os-details#container-optimized_os_cos) images. If the `constraints/compute.trustedimageProjects` organization policy constraint is enforced, you must [set image access constraints](/compute/docs/images/restricting-image-access#trusted_images) to allow users to create boot disks from `projects/cos-cloud` or all public images.\n4. **Optional:** Enable the Container File System API to allow faster workstation startup.\n\n\n [Enable the Container File System API](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/containerfilesystem.googleapis.com?q=container%20file%20system)\n\n \u003cbr /\u003e\n\n For more information, see\n [Reduce workstation startup time with\n Image streaming](/workstations/docs/architecture#image-streaming).\n\nCreate your workstation cluster\n-------------------------------\n\nWorkstation clusters define a group of workstations in a particular region,\nmanage workstations during their lifecycle, and provide configurable\nnetwork connectivity.\n\nWorkstation clusters aren't related to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters.\n\nTo create a workstation cluster, follow these steps:\n\n1. In the console,\n navigate to the **Cloud Workstations** \\\u003e\n **Cluster management** page.\n\n\n [Go to Cluster management](https://console.cloud.google.com/workstations/clusters)\n\n \u003cbr /\u003e\n\n2. From the workstations **Cluster management** page, click\n add_box**Create**.\n\n3. In the **Name** field, enter a name for your workstation cluster.\n\n4. Select the **Region** that is closest to you.\n\n5. Optional: To create your workstations inside a\n [VPC](/vpc/docs/vpc),\n expand the **Network settings** section and select your custom network.\n\n 1. In the **Network** field, enter the name for your network---for example,\n `test-network`.\n\n 2. In the **Subnetwork** field, enter the name for your subnetwork---for\n example, `test-subnetwork`.\n\n 3. In the **Gateway type** section, select **Public gateway** or\n **Private gateway**.\n\n - To make your workstations accessible from public networks, select\n **Public gateway**.\n\n - If you require [data residency](/assured-workloads/docs/data-residency)\n for data in transit, select **Private gateway**.\n\n - To allow ingress and egress to the workstations service from inside\n the selected network, select **Private gateway** .\n For more information about creating a private clusters, see\n [Configure VPC Service Controls and private clusters](/workstations/docs/configure-vpc-service-controls-private-clusters)\n\n6. Click **Create**, which begins the cluster creation process.\n\nWorkstation cluster creation can take up to 20 minutes, but in most\ncases is only needed once.\n\n\nClean up\n--------\n\nTo delete a workstation cluster from the Google Cloud console:\n\n1. In the Google Cloud console, go to **Cloud Workstations \\\u003e Clusters**.\n2. Select the checkbox beside the cluster that you want to delete.\n3. Click themore_vert**More** options menu and select **Delete** to delete the selected workstation cluster.\n\nFor more about deleting workstations, workstation configurations, and Google Cloud projects, see [Delete resources](/workstations/docs/delete-resources).\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- Learn more about configuring options in your\n [workstation configuration](/workstations/docs/create-configuration).\n\n- Use the\n [Cloud Workstations base editor](/workstations/docs/base-editor-overview)."]]
