Bruin AI Step 2 of 6

Build an AI Data Analyst

Choose your warehouse

Pick the tab that matches your setup. The overall flow is the same: add the connection, give it a name, and test it.

BigQuery

There are two authentication methods. Choose the one that matches your setup:


Option A: Application Default Credentials (personal account)

Best for local development using your personal Google account.

1. Authenticate with Google Cloud

gcloud auth application-default login

This opens a browser for Google sign-in. Once complete, a credential token is saved locally that Bruin will use automatically.

2. Add the connection

bruin connections add

The interactive wizard walks you through each field:

  1. Environment: Pick which environment to add the connection to. The default is default, but your project may also have prod, dev, or other custom environments defined in .bruin.yml.
  2. Connection name: Enter gcp-default (or any name you prefer - remember it for later steps).
  3. Connection type: Choose google_cloud_platform from the list.
  4. Credentials:
    • project_id: Your GCP project ID (find it in the Cloud Console or run gcloud config get-value project).
    • location (optional): A default BigQuery location (e.g. US, EU). Leave blank to use the dataset's default.
    • Credential method - the wizard offers three options:
      • service_account_file - path to a JSON key file on disk (e.g. ~/.config/gcloud/my-sa.json).
      • service_account_json - paste the raw JSON content of a service account key directly.
      • use_application_default_credentials - set this to true to use the token from gcloud auth application-default login. Pick this one since you already authenticated in step 1.

3. Test the connection

bruin connections test --name gcp-default

If the test fails, see Troubleshooting below.


Option B: Service Account Key File

Best for production, CI/CD, or shared team environments.

1. Create or obtain a service account key

If you don't already have a service account key file:

  • Go to IAM & Admin → Service Accounts in the Cloud Console
  • Create a service account (or use an existing one) with at least BigQuery Data Viewer and BigQuery Job User roles
  • Create a JSON key and download it to your machine (e.g., ~/.config/gcloud/my-service-account.json)

2. Add the connection manually

For service accounts, it's often easier to edit .bruin.yml directly rather than using the interactive wizard. Open .bruin.yml in your Bruin project root and add:

environments:
  default:
    connections:
      google_cloud_platform:
        - name: "gcp-default"
          project_id: "your-gcp-project-id"
          service_account_file: "/path/to/your-service-account.json"

Replace your-gcp-project-id with your actual project ID and update the path to your key file.

3. Test the connection

bruin connections test --name gcp-default

If the test fails, see Troubleshooting below.


What your .bruin.yml looks like after setup

After adding a connection, your .bruin.yml will contain an entry similar to:

environments:
  default:
    connections:
      google_cloud_platform:
        - name: "gcp-default"
          project_id: "my-analytics-project"

For Application Default Credentials, the key file path is omitted (Bruin finds it automatically). For service accounts, the service_account_file field is included.

Sign up to our newsletter

Practical updates on open-source data pipelines, AI analysts, governance, and what we are shipping at Bruin.