GCP project deleted by accident, or we want to recover something from a deleted project
Google Cloud keeps a project in a scheduled-deletion state for about thirty days by default. Inside that window restore is a few clicks, after that the data is gone.
Try this first
- 1Check status: gcloud projects list --filter='lifecycleState:DELETE_REQUESTED' or in the console Resource Manager > Manage Resources > filter 'Pending deletion'. Still there: plenty of time.
- 2Restore: in the console click the project and choose Restore Project, or cli: gcloud projects undelete PROJECT_ID. Resources inside the project then need to be re-enabled themselves, some services have a brief reactivation.
- 3Window expired: data is gone, not recoverable. For future prevention: set billing-account policies and organisation policy so only specific roles can delete projects.
- 4For production projects: use organisation-level Project Lien (gcloud resource-manager liens create). A lien blocks deletion until explicitly removed, a second step that prevents accidents.
- 5Document which projects are 'may die' and which are 'absolutely not'. Naming with '-prod' or '-test' suffixes helps and is free.
When to bring us in
Project deleted outside the 30-day window with production data in it: not a recovery question any more but an impact assessment. We help to determine whether backups (BigQuery exports, Cloud Storage replication) live elsewhere.
See also
- Everyone logs in with the AWS root accountRoot is for emergencies and billing. Day-to-day work belongs in IAM users or SSO.
- Every developer has AdministratorAccessAdministratorAccess everywhere is convenient now, painful later. Start with role-based policies.
- Everyone has individual IAM users with their own passwordIdentity Center (formerly AWS SSO) links to your IdP and issues temporary credentials per session.
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