gcloud-vm

72 / 100 · Review before installing

Check before installing. Some of what it can do is expected: a coding skill usually runs build and test commands.

By nubjs/nub (GitHub) · coding · 4,439 stars · scanned at commit 9b73456

Provision, start, reach, and use Google Cloud VMs for nub — for any real-OS work the local macOS host and Docker can't do (real Linux-kernel enforcement, real Windows/AppContainer/MSVC, a clean multi-GB build box). Invoke whenever you think "I need a Linux box" or "I need a Windows box" — you can START the existing `nub-linux`/`nub-win` instances OR CREATE a fresh one on demand with `gcloud compute instances create`. Encodes the load-bearing gotchas: IPs change on every restart (never trust a h…

Works with any agent that supports SKILL.md skills.

What this skill can do

Runs commands on your computer

This is disclosed by the author in the skill's SKILL.md or README. Expected for a coding skill.

Found in 11 places.

.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 64keyward --reason "nub: delete the VM <name>" -- \
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 74keyward --reason "nub: list the VMs" -- gcloud compute instances list --project pullfrog # names + STATUS + current external IP
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 86NAME=nub-linux

Show 8 more

.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 103NAME=nub-linux
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 126keyward --reason "nub: create the Linux VM nub-linux-tmp" -- \
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 152NAME=nub-win-tmp
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 211printf '@echo off\r\ncd /d C:\\nub\r\nset RUSTUP_HOME=C:\\Users\\nub\\.rustup\r\nset CARGO_HOME=C:\\Users\\nub\\.cargo\r\n"C:\\Users\\nub\\.rustup\\toolchains\\
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 233keyward --reason "nub: delete the VM <name>" -- gcloud compute instances delete <name> --zone us-central1-a --project pullfrog --quiet
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 242keyward --reason "nub: list the VMs" -- gcloud compute instances list --project pullfrog
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 247- **The command's first word must be `gcloud`.** `keyward -- sh -c '…'` or a runner is refused, so give each gcloud call its own `keyward`; the shell around it
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 258keyward --reason "nub: read nub-linux's serial console" -- \

Changes files outside its own folder

The author does not mention this.

Found in 9 places.

.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 66rm -rf ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys/<name> # its key goes with it
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 69**⛔ A FULL DISK IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM A BROKEN BOX, AND IT IS THE MOST COMMON CAUSE HERE.** Measured 2026-08-05 on `nub-linux`: `/dev/root 193G 193G 0 100%`
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 105mkdir -p ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys && chmod 700 ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys

Show 6 more

.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 115- **The key goes with the box**: `rm -rf ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys/<name>` when you delete it.
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 154mkdir -p ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys && chmod 700 ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys
.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 234rm -rf ~/.cache/nub/vm-keys/<name>
scripts/vm-idle/linux-startup.sh, line 10install -m 0755 /dev/stdin /usr/local/sbin/nub-idle-stop <<'SCRIPT'
scripts/vm-idle/linux-startup.sh, line 29cat > /etc/systemd/system/nub-idle.service <<'UNIT'
scripts/vm-idle/linux-startup.sh, line 35cat > /etc/systemd/system/nub-idle.timer <<'UNIT'

Downloads and installs other software

The author does not mention this.

Found in 1 place.

.claude/skills/gcloud-vm/SKILL.md, line 266- **Prefer cross-compile-on-Mac + scp the artifact over building on the VM.** Running a binary needs almost no RAM. For Windows, the VM's MSVC BuildTools is oft

Safer alternatives

Low-risk skills in the same category (coding) that look related. Check that one does what you need.

97 Low riskgcloudgoogle/skills · 23,813 stars

Install

Paste this into your terminal. It downloads exactly the version we scanned, not whatever is newest.

if [ -e ~/.agents/skills/'gcloud-vm' ] || [ -L ~/.agents/skills/'gcloud-vm' ]; then echo 'A skill folder named gcloud-vm already exists — not replacing it' >&2; false; else d=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --quiet --filter=blob:none --no-checkout 'https://github.com/nubjs/nub' "$d" && git -C "$d" checkout --quiet '9b734566fd36ceed8379f67a92291bc68af60801' -- '.claude/skills/gcloud-vm' && mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills && cp -R "$d"/'.claude/skills/gcloud-vm' ~/.agents/skills/'gcloud-vm' && rm -rf "$d"; fi

Codex reads ~/.agents/skills directly. For Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Antigravity or OpenCode, also link it. For Claude Code: ln -s ~/.agents/skills/'gcloud-vm' ~/.claude/skills/'gcloud-vm' (other agents: ~/.cursor/skills, ~/.copilot/skills, ~/.gemini/skills, ~/.gemini/config/skills, ~/.config/opencode/skills). Or install through the finder skill, which does both.

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Score history

Date	Version	Score
2026-11-11	`9b73456`	72
2026-11-08	`719c617`	72
2026-11-07	`742e698`	72