---
description: >
  The Google Compute Image Exporter post-processor exports an image from a
  Packer googlecompute builder run and uploads it to Google Cloud Storage. The exported
  images can be easily shared and uploaded to other Google Cloud Projects.
layout: docs
page_title: Google Compute Image Exporter - Post-Processors
sidebar_title: Google Compute Export
---

# Google Compute Image Exporter Post-Processor

Type: `googlecompute-export`

The Google Compute Image Exporter post-processor exports the resultant image
from a googlecompute build as a gzipped tarball to Google Cloud Storage (GCS).

The exporter uses the same Google Cloud Platform (GCP) project and
authentication credentials as the googlecompute build that produced the image.
A temporary VM is started in the GCP project using these credentials. The VM
mounts the built image as a disk then dumps, compresses, and tars the image.
The VM then uploads the tarball to the provided GCS `paths` using the same
credentials.

As such, the authentication credentials that built the image must have write
permissions to the GCS `paths`.

~> **Note**: By default the GCE image being exported will be deleted once the image has been exported.
To prevent Packer from deleting the image set the `keep_input_artifact` configuration option to `true`. See [Post-Processor Input Artifacts](https://www.packer.io/docs/templates/post-processors#input-artifacts) for more details.

## Configuration

### Required

@include 'post-processor/googlecompute-export/Config-required.mdx'

### Optional

@include 'post-processor/googlecompute-export/Config-not-required.mdx'

## Basic Example

The following example builds a GCE image in the project, `my-project`, with an
account whose keyfile is `account.json`. After the image build, a temporary VM
will be created to export the image as a gzipped tarball to
`gs://mybucket1/path/to/file1.tar.gz` and
`gs://mybucket2/path/to/file2.tar.gz`. `keep_input_artifact` is true, so the
GCE image won't be deleted after the export.

In order for this example to work, the account associated with `account.json`
must have write access to both `gs://mybucket1/path/to/file1.tar.gz` and
`gs://mybucket2/path/to/file2.tar.gz`.

<Tabs>
<Tab heading="JSON">

```json
{
  "builders": [
    {
      "type": "googlecompute",
      "account_file": "account.json",
      "project_id": "my-project",
      "source_image": "debian-7-wheezy-v20150127",
      "zone": "us-central1-a"
    }
  ],
  "post-processors": [
    {
      "type": "googlecompute-export",
      "paths": [
        "gs://mybucket1/path/to/file1.tar.gz",
        "gs://mybucket2/path/to/file2.tar.gz"
      ],
      "keep_input_artifact": true
    }
  ]
}
```

</Tab>

<Tab heading="HCL2">

```hcl

  source "googlecompute" "example" {
    account_file = "account.json"
    project_id = "my-project"
    source_image = "debian-7-wheezy-v20150127"
    zone = "us-central1-a"
  }

  build {
    sources = ["source.googlecompute.example"]

    post-processor "googlecompute-export" {
      paths = [
        "gs://mybucket1/path/to/file1.tar.gz",
        "gs://mybucket2/path/to/file2.tar.gz"
      ]
      keep_input_artifact = true
    }
  }
```

</Tab>
</Tabs>