Google Play Store CLI

Service account setup

In Google Cloud, create a service account and enable the Google Play Android Developer API.
Download a JSON key.
In Play Console → Users and permissions, invite the service account email and grant app / account permissions.
Store the key securely. Do not commit it to source control.

Treat service-account keys as secrets. If a key is exposed, rotate it in Google Cloud and revoke the old key.

Credential precedence

Resolved in this order:

--credentials <path|json> (CLI / MCP flag)
GPS_CREDENTIALS or GOOGLE_PLAY_CREDENTIALS (path or inline JSON)
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS (path)
~/.config/gps/config.json → { "credentialsPath": "/path/to/key.json" }

Examples

# Env path
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=$HOME/.secrets/play-sa.json
gps whoami

# Flag path
gps --credentials ./sa.json whoami

# Inline JSON (escape carefully; prefer files)
gps --credentials '{"type":"service_account",...}' whoami

Config file:

{
  "credentialsPath": "/Users/you/.secrets/play-sa.json"
}

MCP

Pass credentials the same way:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-play-store": {
      "command": "gps-mcp",
      "args": ["--credentials", "/path/to/service-account.json"]
    }
  }
}

Or via env on the MCP process:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-play-store": {
      "command": "gps-mcp",
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS": "/path/to/service-account.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Multi-account

For multiple service-account keys and a local app registry, see Multi-account and apps.

Write safety

Mechanism	Behavior
`--confirm` (CLI)	Required for write subcommands and `gps call` on write ops
`--read-only`	Blocks mutations; ephemeral read edits still allowed
MCP `--read-only`	Same as CLI read-only

Get started

Concepts

Guides

CLI

MCP

SDK

Reference

Authentication

Service account setup

Credential precedence

Examples

MCP

Multi-account

Write safety

​Service account setup

​Credential precedence

​Examples

​MCP

​Multi-account

​Write safety

Service account setup

Credential precedence

Examples

MCP

Multi-account

Write safety