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Important: gsutil is not the recommended CLI for Cloud Storage. Usegcloud storage commands in the Google Cloud CLI instead.
This page describes how gsutil uses a boto configuration file and provides a collaboration example that uses the file. The boto configuration file is also used by boto, which is the Amazon S3 SDK for Python.
Note: boto3 is not supported with gsutil. Configuration file overviewThe boto configuration file contains values that control how gsutil behaves. For example, the prefer_api variable determines which API gsutil preferentially uses. Boto configuration file variables can be changed by editing the configuration file directly. While most users won't need to edit these variables, those do typically do so for one of the following reasons:
The default location for the boto configuration file is in the user home directory, ~/.boto, for Linux and macOS, and in %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%, for Windows. You can get the location of the configuration file by running the command gsutil version -l.
You can override where gsutil expects to find the config file by setting the BOTO_CONFIG environment variable. You can also set up a path of boto configuration files to load by setting the BOTO_PATH environment variable using a : delimited path (or ; for Windows). For example, setting the BOTO_PATH environment variable to:
/etc/projects/my_group_project.boto.cfg:/home/mylogin/.boto
causes gsutil to load each configuration file found in the path in order. This is useful if you want to set up some shared configuration state among many users. See the example of using the configuration file for such a data sharing and collaboration scenario.
StructureThe configuration file contains a number of sections: [Credentials], [Boto], [GSUtil], and [OAuth2]. The following are the currently defined configuration settings, broken down by section. Their use is documented in the boto configuration file itself, in comments preceding each setting:
[Credentials] aws_access_key_id aws_secret_access_key gs_access_key_id gs_host gs_host_header gs_json_host gs_json_host_header gs_json_port gs_oauth2_refresh_token gs_port gs_secret_access_key gs_service_client_id gs_service_key_file gs_service_key_file_password s3_host s3_host_header s3_port [Boto] proxy proxy_type proxy_port proxy_user proxy_pass proxy_rdns http_socket_timeout ca_certificates_file https_validate_certificates debug max_retry_delay num_retries [GoogleCompute] service_account [GSUtil] check_hashes content_language decryption_key1 ... 100 default_api_version disable_analytics_prompt encryption_key json_api_version max_upload_compression_buffer_size parallel_composite_upload_component_size parallel_composite_upload_threshold sliced_object_download_component_size sliced_object_download_max_components sliced_object_download_threshold parallel_process_count parallel_thread_count gzip_compression_level prefer_api resumable_threshold resumable_tracker_dir (deprecated in 4.6, use state_dir) rsync_buffer_lines software_update_check_period state_dir tab_completion_time_logs tab_completion_timeout task_estimation_threshold test_cmd_regional_bucket_location test_notification_url use_magicfile test_hmac_service_account test_hmac_alt_service_account test_hmac_list_service_account [OAuth2] client_id client_secret oauth2_refresh_retries provider_authorization_uri provider_label provider_token_uri token_cache
When you edit the file, be careful not to mis-edit any of the setting names, such as gs_access_key_id, and don't remove the section delimiters, such as [Credentials].
New configuration controllable features are added to the boto configuration file over time, but most gsutil users create a configuration file once and then keep it for a long time. This means that new features aren't apparent when you update to a newer version of gsutil. If you want to get the latest configuration file, which includes the latest settings and documentation, rename your current file (e.g., to .boto_old), run gcloud init (or if using a legacy stand-alone version of gustil, gsutil config with the -a or -e flags), and then transfer any configuration settings you want to keep from your old file into the newly created file. Note, however, that if you're using OAuth2 credentials and you go back through the OAuth2 configuration process, doing so invalidates your previous OAuth2 credentials.
In this example, a small company wants to use Cloud Storage as a storage system for their employees. As the IT administrator, you create a project in the Google Cloud console and create buckets for each employee. To make it easier for employees to use Cloud Storage, you want to create and store company-wide settings, such as a proxy configuration and parallel composite upload thresholds, in a central file that employees can point to in their BOTO configuration path. This eliminates the need for each employee to set the shared parts of the configuration manually and allows you, as the administrator, to easily change these shared configurations if necessary.
To accomplish this, perform the following steps:
Create a central boto configuration file that is readable by all employees.
This can be done by using gcloud init.
The boto configuration file might contain, for example:
[Boto] proxy = yourproxy.com proxy_port = 8080 proxy_type = http [GSUtil] parallel_composite_upload_threshold = 150MNote:
socks4 and socks5 proxies are also supported for proxy_type.Instruct employees to install the Google Cloud CLI.
During installation, employees need to specify the project ID that the company is using. They also need to generate individual authentication credentials because you should never share authentication credentials centrally.
Instruct employees to add a BOTO_PATH environment variable.
The BOTO_PATH environment variable lists the path of the centrally located configuration file, followed by the employee's local configuration file. For example, if the central configuration file is located in the directory centralhub/, then for user jane, the BOTO_PATH environment variable might be:
BOTO_PATH =/centralhub/boto.cfg:home/jane/.boto
When employees run gsutil, they will automatically use the configuration specified in the central boto file. If necessary, the administrator can change the proxy settings, parallel composite upload threshold, and other settings in the central configuration file and have the changes reflected for all employees using the central configuration file.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-10-07 UTC.
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