Why Isn't My token.pickle File Included in My Deployed Google Cloud Run Function from a .zip Archive?

Below is some guidance on why you might not see the file and how you can confirm it’s available at runtime:

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1. File Inclusion in the Container

When you deploy your service, Cloud Run builds a container image from your provided source. The Cloud Run console doesn’t provide a view of the container’s file tree. Even if you upload a .zip that contains token.pickle (and other files), once deployed the file is part of the container image—you won’t see it in a “source browser.”

Check that:

• Your build process isn’t excluding token.pickle via a .gcloudignore or .dockerignore file.
• The .zip file you upload really contains the file (you might try unzipping locally to confirm).

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2. Accessing the File at Runtime

Because Cloud Run’s filesystem is read-only at runtime, any file bundled with your image is available for reading but not writing. Make sure that your application looks for token.pickle at the correct location relative to the working directory.

For example, if your directory structure looks like this:

.
├── main.py
├── token.pickle
└── other_file.py

Then in your code, you might want to do:

PYTHONCopied
import os

# Assuming the working directory is the root of your container image
pickle_path = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "token.pickle")
with open(pickle_path, "rb") as f:
    token_data = f.read()

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3. Sensitive Files

If token.pickle contains sensitive OAuth tokens, consider security best practices (for example, using Secret Manager) rather than bundling credentials in your image.

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Summary

• The container image created from your .zip won’t show its file system through the Cloud Run UI—this is expected behavior.
• Double-check ignore files to ensure token.pickle is included.
• Confirm that your code points to the correct file path.
• Look into secure methods to manage credentials rather than baking them into your container.

This approach should help clarify why you aren’t "seeing" token.pickle and how to properly access it at runtime.