PCD Building and testing applications Practice Question
This PCD practice question tests your understanding of building and testing applications. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Network Topology
A developer runs the above command and cloudbuild.yaml. The build fails at the deploy step with a permission error. The developer has the Cloud Build Editor role on the project. What is the likely cause?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The Cloud Build service account lacks the Cloud Run Admin role.
The Cloud Build Editor role grants permissions to submit builds and execute build steps, but the actual execution of those steps (including the deploy step) runs under the Cloud Build service account. By default, this service account does not have the Cloud Run Admin role, which is required to deploy to Cloud Run. Without this role, the `gcloud run deploy` command fails with a permission error.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
The Cloud Build service account lacks the Cloud Run Admin role.
Why this is correct
The Cloud Build service account needs Cloud Run Admin (or roles/run.admin) to deploy services.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The Cloud Build Editor role does not have permission to submit builds.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Build Editor includes permissions to submit builds.
✗
The Docker image is not in a format compatible with Cloud Run.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Run accepts any container image that adheres to the Open Container Initiative (OCI) format.
✗
The build step uses the 'gcloud' command without authentication.
Why it's wrong here
Cloud Build automatically authenticates the gcloud command using the service account.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the distinction between the permissions of the user who triggers a build (e.g., Cloud Build Editor) and the permissions of the service account that executes the build steps, leading candidates to incorrectly assume the user's role applies to all build actions.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
Cloud Build automatically authenticates the gcloud command using the service account.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Cloud Build uses a service account (typically `[PROJECT_NUMBER]@cloudbuild.gserviceaccount.com`) to execute all build steps. The `gcloud run deploy` command calls the Cloud Run Admin API, which requires the `run.services.create` or `run.services.update` permission. The Cloud Build Editor role only grants permissions on the Cloud Build API itself, not on Cloud Run. In real-world scenarios, you must grant the Cloud Build service account the Cloud Run Admin role (or a custom role with `run.services.*`) before deploying, or use a user-specified service account with the necessary permissions.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Building and testing applications — This question tests Building and testing applications — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The Cloud Build service account lacks the Cloud Run Admin role. — The Cloud Build Editor role grants permissions to submit builds and execute build steps, but the actual execution of those steps (including the deploy step) runs under the Cloud Build service account. By default, this service account does not have the Cloud Run Admin role, which is required to deploy to Cloud Run. Without this role, the `gcloud run deploy` command fails with a permission error.
What should I do if I get this PCD question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This PCD practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCD exam.
Question Discussion
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