Profile
Google Cloud Build is a fully managed, serverless continuous integration and continuous delivery platform operated by Google Cloud. As a proprietary service within the Google Cloud Platform ecosystem, it executes builds on Google's infrastructure while providing native integration with GCP services. The platform eliminates operational overhead traditionally associated with build infrastructure by handling scaling, security, and maintenance automatically. Its enterprise-grade capabilities, including SLSA level 3 compliance and support for complex deployment scenarios, make it particularly valuable for organizations seeking to modernize their software delivery pipelines without managing underlying infrastructure.
Focus
Cloud Build addresses fundamental challenges in modern software delivery by eliminating the operational burden of maintaining build infrastructure. It solves persistent problems around build environment consistency, security isolation, and scalable execution of containerized workloads. The platform particularly benefits organizations dealing with polyglot development environments, microservices architectures, and regulated industries requiring audit trails and deployment controls. Core value propositions include automated scaling, reproducible builds through containerization, and comprehensive supply chain security features, making it especially relevant for platform engineering teams managing enterprise-scale delivery pipelines.
Background
Google developed Cloud Build as part of its cloud-native platform strategy, designing it to handle Google's own substantial build requirements while making the technology available as a managed service. While the core service remains proprietary, Google maintains several open-source components including builder images under Apache 2.0 license. The platform has demonstrated enterprise readiness through large-scale implementations, notably Target Corporation's migration of 5,400 applications to a Kubernetes-based platform. Owned and operated by Google LLC under Alphabet Inc., Cloud Build receives consistent feature development and maintenance as a strategic component of Google Cloud Platform.
Main features
Containerized build step execution with workspace persistence
Cloud Build executes each build step in isolated containers while maintaining data sharing through a persistent workspace mounted at /workspace. This architecture enables complex multi-step builds where each step runs in its own container with specific tools and runtime environments, while still allowing artifacts and dependencies to pass between steps. The containerized approach ensures consistency and reproducibility while supporting any tool or language that can run in a container. Build steps communicate through a dedicated Docker network named 'cloudbuild', providing isolation between concurrent builds while enabling step-to-step communication within a build.
Private pool deployment with VPC network integration
Private pools provide dedicated build environments with enhanced security and networking capabilities, enabling builds to access resources in private VPC networks through VPC peering. This feature supports organizations with strict security requirements or hybrid cloud architectures by allowing builds to interact with internal services, databases, and artifact repositories not exposed to the public internet. Private pools support customizable machine types, regional deployment for data residency compliance, and the ability to configure static IP addresses for allowlisting, making them particularly valuable for enterprises with complex networking requirements.
Supply chain security with SLSA compliance
Cloud Build implements comprehensive supply chain security through SLSA level 3 compliant build processes and integration with Binary Authorization. The platform generates cryptographically verifiable build provenance that includes source locations, build steps, and artifact digests, enabling organizations to implement policies that only allow deployment of artifacts built through verified processes. This security framework extends to deployment time through Binary Authorization, which requires attestations confirming artifacts meet organizational policies before allowing deployment to production environments, creating an end-to-end secure software supply chain.
