Google Cloud Runtime Configuration API
Browse all Google APIs40
AI ReadinessNon-Ready (F)40/100
Official vendor OpenAPI document · agent-readyDeveloper ToolsMonitoring Observabilityoauth213 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Read and write dynamic configuration variables on Google Cloud, watch them for changes, and coordinate startup with waiters that resolve when conditions are met.
Use for: Set a runtime variable named feature/checkout-flow to enabled, Watch the variable rollout/version until it changes from canary to stable, Create a waiter that blocks until 5 worker startup variables are present, List all variables under projects/my-prod/configs/orders
Not supported: Does not store secrets, manage Compute Engine metadata, or trigger workflow execution - use for sharing dynamic runtime configuration values, watchers, and waiters only.
The Cloud Runtime Configuration API exposes the Runtime Configurator, which lets services dynamically configure and share variables across Google Cloud workloads. It supports configs as containers, variables as named values, and waiters that block until a condition over those variables is met or a timeout elapses. The API also provides a watch endpoint that returns when a single variable changes, plus IAM endpoints to control who can read or update each config.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Cloud Runtime Configuration API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Cloud Runtime Configuration API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fgoogleapis.com%2Fruntimeconfig" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fgoogleapis.com%2Fruntimeconfig" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Cloud Runtime Configuration API.
Create and delete configs that group related runtime variables
Set, get, list, and delete named variables inside a config
Watch a single variable so the call returns when its value changes or a timeout elapses
Define waiters that block until a count condition over variables is satisfied or fails
Bind IAM policies on configs to control who can read or update runtime variables
Test IAM permissions on a config before attempting a privileged change
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Cloud Runtime Configuration API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Coordinated startup of distributed services
A startup agent uses a waiter that blocks until N expected service variables are written, ensuring downstream services only begin after their dependencies have registered. The Runtime Configurator handles the timeout and success or failure semantics, so the orchestrator does not need to poll variables itself.
POST /v1beta1/{+parent}/waiters with success.cardinality.number=5 and a 10-minute timeout, then poll the waiter until done.
Feature flag rollout
A release agent stores feature flags as runtime variables. Services watch each variable through the watch endpoint and react when the agent sets the value to enabled or disabled. The watch call returns as soon as the value changes, providing near-real-time flag propagation without polling.
Have services call POST /v1beta1/{+name}:watch on feature/checkout-flow; the agent issues PUT /v1beta1/{+name} to flip the value when ready.
IAM-scoped config access for multi-team projects
A platform team partitions runtime variables by config and binds IAM principals per config so each team only reads and writes its own. setIamPolicy and getIamPolicy on each config govern those grants, and testIamPermissions lets agents check rights before attempting privileged operations.
POST /v1beta1/{+resource}:setIamPolicy on each config with the team's group bound to roles/runtimeconfig.admin.
Agent-driven runtime flags through Jentic
An AI agent built on Jentic flips runtime configuration values on behalf of operators. It searches for the variable update operation by intent, loads the schema, executes the change, and reports back. OAuth tokens stay isolated in your Jentic One instance so raw secrets never enter agent context.
Search Jentic for 'set runtime configurator variable', load the PUT variable schema, execute against projects/my-prod/configs/orders/variables/feature/checkout-flow with value=enabled.
Key Endpoints
13 endpoints — the cloud runtime configuration api exposes the runtime configurator, which lets services dynamically configure and share variables across google cloud workloads.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/v1beta1/{+parent}/configs
Create a config
POST
/v1beta1/{+parent}/variables
Create a variable inside a config
GET
/v1beta1/{+name}
Get a config, variable, or waiter
PUT
/v1beta1/{+name}
Update a variable value
DELETE
/v1beta1/{+name}
Delete a config, variable, or waiter
POST
/v1beta1/{+name}:watch
Watch a variable for changes
POST
/v1beta1/{+parent}/waiters
Create a waiter
POST
/v1beta1/{+resource}:setIamPolicy
Set the IAM policy on a config
POST
/v1beta1/{+parent}/configs
Create a config
POST
/v1beta1/{+parent}/variables
Create a variable inside a config
GET
/v1beta1/{+name}
Get a config, variable, or waiter
PUT
/v1beta1/{+name}
Update a variable value
DELETE
/v1beta1/{+name}
Delete a config, variable, or waiter
POST
/v1beta1/{+name}:watch
Watch a variable for changes
POST
/v1beta1/{+parent}/waiters
Create a waiter
POST
/v1beta1/{+resource}:setIamPolicy
Set the IAM policy on a config
Jentic AI Readiness Score
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
C
Cloud Runtime Configuration API
- Non-Ready (F)40/100
70
Foundational Compliance56
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility17
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience94
Agent Usability63
Security64
AI DiscoverabilityPowered by JenticScoring Framework 1.0.0 | Scoring Engine 0.4.0
Show dimension breakdown
70
Foundational Compliance
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Grade: B+Signals: 4
79%
Lint Results
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
100%
Resolution Completeness
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
0%
Specification Validity
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
100%
Structural Integrity
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
56
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
Grade: CSignals: 4
0%
Example Density
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
100%
Example Validity
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
25%
Response Coverage
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
100%
Tooling Readiness
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
17
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Grade: FSignals: 4
68%
Description Coverage
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
0%
Error Standardization
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
0%
OperationId Quality
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
0%
Summary Coverage
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
94
Agent Usability
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
94%
Complexity Comfort
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
63
Security
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Grade: B-Signals: 1
62%
Authentication Strength
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
64
AI Discoverability
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Grade: BSignals: 1
64%
Descriptive Richness
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring the Cloud Runtime Configuration API by hand means configuring Google OAuth 2.0, refreshing scoped access tokens, and threading config, variable, and waiter resource names through the v1beta1 endpoints on runtimeconfig.googleapis.com. Through Jentic you install once, import the Cloud Runtime Configuration API from the API Directory, store the OAuth credential once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
This API puts the config and variable in the URL path (/v1beta1/{+name} and /v1beta1/{+parent}/variables), so a rule can pin your agent to one runtime config: it can read and watch variables there and nothing else. You choose the operations it may call, so state-changing ones like deleting a variable or setting an IAM policy are not included unless you add them.
Credential isolation
Your Google OAuth credential is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and a scoped access token is injected at execution time. The credential never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'set a runtime configurator variable' or 'watch a runtime variable', and Jentic returns the matching operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the discovery document.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Cloud Runtime Configuration API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Runtime Configuration API use?
It uses Google OAuth 2.0 with the cloud-platform or cloudruntimeconfig scopes, declared as Oauth2 and Oauth2c. Through Jentic, OAuth tokens are stored encrypted in the vault and exchanged for short-lived access tokens at execution time so raw refresh tokens never reach the agent.
Can I watch a runtime variable for changes through the API?
Yes. POST /v1beta1/{+name}:watch performs a long-poll request that returns as soon as the named variable changes value or a server-side timeout elapses. This avoids client-side polling and gives near-real-time propagation of feature flags and rollout signals.
What are the rate limits for the Runtime Configuration API?
Google Cloud applies per-project read and write quotas to the Runtime Configurator, with watch and waiter calls counted against a separate concurrent-long-poll quota. The default per-minute quota is 600 read requests per project, raisable through the Cloud Console for sustained usage.
How do I create a waiter through Jentic?
Search Jentic for 'create runtime configurator waiter', load the schema for POST /v1beta1/{+parent}/waiters, and execute with the cardinality success condition and timeout you need. Jentic returns the waiter resource, which the agent polls until status reports done.
Is the Runtime Configuration API free?
The API is free to call within Google Cloud quotas, and stored variables and waiters incur no per-byte charge inside published limits. Costs scale only with very large variable bodies above the per-config size limits.
How do I scope variable access to one team only?
Place each team's variables in its own config and bind a team-specific IAM principal to the config with POST /v1beta1/{+resource}:setIamPolicy at the role roles/runtimeconfig.admin or .viewer. Other principals can be denied entirely at the config level rather than on each variable.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Cloud Runtime Configuration API?
Yes. Because this API carries the config and variable in the URL path (/v1beta1/{+name} and /v1beta1/{+parent}/variables), your self-hosted Jentic One instance lets you write a rule that pins the agent to a single runtime config so it can only read and watch variables there. You decide which operations the agent may call, so state-changing ones like deleting a variable (DELETE /v1beta1/{+name}) or setting an IAM policy (POST /v1beta1/{+resource}:setIamPolicy) are excluded unless you explicitly add them. The Google OAuth credential stays in your own instance, and a scoped token is injected only for the operations you allow.
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