Google Play Console CLI

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Troubleshooting ​

This page covers common issues and their solutions. For a complete list of error codes, see the Error Codes reference.

First Steps ​

Run gpc doctor ​

The built-in diagnostic command checks your environment, credentials, and configuration:

bash
gpc doctor

gpc doctor validates:

  • Node.js version compatibility
  • Authentication credentials and token validity
  • API access and permissions
  • Configuration file syntax
  • Network connectivity to Google Play APIs

Enable Debug Mode ​

For detailed output, enable debug mode:

bash
# Environment variable
GPC_DEBUG=1 gpc <command>

# Verbose flag
gpc <command> --verbose

Debug mode prints request/response details, timing information, and internal state. Credentials and tokens are automatically redacted.

Common Issues ​

Authentication ​

No credentials found ​

Symptom: Error [AUTH_001]: No credentials found

Cause: GPC cannot locate a service account key or OAuth token.

Fix:

bash
# Point to your service account key
export GPC_SERVICE_ACCOUNT=/path/to/service-account.json

# Or log in with OAuth
gpc auth login

Token expired ​

Symptom: Error [AUTH_003]: Token expired

Cause: Your OAuth token has expired and needs to be refreshed.

Fix:

bash
gpc auth login

Permission denied ​

Symptom: Error [AUTH_002]: Permission denied or 403 Forbidden on auth

Cause: Your service account or user account lacks the required permissions.

Fix:

  1. Open the Google Cloud Console
  2. Verify the Google Play Android Developer API is enabled
  3. Check that your service account has the correct roles in Google Play Console under Users and permissions

Upload & Release Errors ​

Version code already used ​

Symptom: Error [API_DUPLICATE_VERSION_CODE]: Version code 142 has already been uploaded to this app.

Cause: You're uploading an AAB/APK with a versionCode that was already uploaded.

Fix:

  1. Check current versions: gpc releases status --track production
  2. Increment versionCode in your app/build.gradle
  3. Rebuild and upload again

Package name mismatch ​

Symptom: Error [API_PACKAGE_NAME_MISMATCH]: The package name in the uploaded bundle does not match the target app.

Cause: The applicationId in your AAB doesn't match the app you're uploading to.

Fix:

  1. Check configured app: gpc config show
  2. Verify applicationId in build.gradle matches
  3. Or specify explicitly: gpc releases upload app.aab --app com.example.correct

Upload timeout on large files ​

Symptom: Error [API_TIMEOUT] during AAB upload

Cause: Large files need more time than the default 30-second timeout.

Fix:

bash
# Increase timeout (milliseconds)
GPC_TIMEOUT=120000 gpc releases upload large-app.aab --track internal

# Or use environment variable permanently
export GPC_UPLOAD_TIMEOUT=300000

GPC uses resumable uploads for files over 5 MB. If a chunk fails, it auto-resumes from where it left off.

Preflight Errors ​

"Manifest could not be fully parsed" warning ​

Symptom: gpc preflight app.aab shows a warning instead of manifest scan results

Cause: Some large or complex AABs have binary manifests that the protobuf decoder cannot fully parse.

What happens: GPC does not crash. Manifest-dependent scanners (manifest, permissions, policy, privacy) are skipped. All other scanners (native-libs, size, secrets, billing) still run and produce results.

Workaround: Run metadata checks separately:

bash
gpc preflight --metadata fastlane/metadata/android

API Errors ​

403/401 on Vitals or Error Issues commands ​

Symptom: Error [API_003]: 403 Forbidden or 401 Unauthorized when running gpc vitals errors search, gpc vitals anomalies, or other Reporting API commands.

Cause: The Reporting API requires the playdeveloperreporting OAuth scope. GPC v0.9.15+ requests both required scopes automatically. If you're using an older cached token, it may only have the androidpublisher scope.

Fix:

  1. Re-authenticate to obtain a token with both scopes:
    bash
    gpc auth logout && gpc auth login --service-account /path/to/key.json
  2. If using ADC, re-login with both scopes:
    bash
    gcloud auth application-default login \
  --scopes=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/androidpublisher,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/playdeveloperreporting

404 on Vitals commands ​

Symptom: Error [API_004]: 404 Not Found when running gpc vitals crashes, gpc vitals anr, or other vitals commands.

Cause: The Google Play Developer Reporting API is not enabled in your Google Cloud project. Vitals commands use a separate API from the main Android Publisher API.

Fix:

  1. Enable the Reporting API:
    bash
    gcloud services enable playdeveloperreporting.googleapis.com --project YOUR_PROJECT_ID
    Or open the Google Cloud Console API Library, search for "Google Play Developer Reporting API", and click Enable.
  2. Wait a few minutes for the change to propagate
  3. Retry the vitals command

Note: Your service account must also have the "View app quality information" permission in Google Play Console under Users and permissions.

404 App not found ​

Symptom: Error [API_004]: 404 Not Found

Cause: The package name does not match any app in your developer account.

Fix:

bash
# Verify the package name
gpc apps list

# Check your configured package name
gpc config get app

403 Forbidden ​

Symptom: Error [API_003]: 403 Forbidden

Cause: Your credentials lack API access for the requested operation.

Fix:

  1. Confirm API access is granted in Google Play Console
  2. Check that the service account has permissions for the specific app
  3. Verify the Google Play Android Developer API is enabled in Cloud Console

429 Rate limited ​

Symptom: Error [API_005]: 429 Too Many Requests

Cause: You have exceeded Google Play API rate limits.

Fix:

bash
# Reduce concurrency for batch operations
gpc <command> --concurrency 1

# GPC automatically retries with backoff, but you can wait and retry

Network ​

ECONNREFUSED ​

Symptom: Error [NET_001]: connect ECONNREFUSED

Cause: Cannot connect to Google APIs. Often a proxy or firewall issue.

Fix:

bash
# If behind a proxy, set proxy environment variables
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080

# Verify connectivity
curl -I https://androidpublisher.googleapis.com

Certificate error ​

Symptom: Error [NET_002]: unable to verify the first certificate

Cause: Corporate proxy or custom CA certificate not trusted.

Fix:

bash
# Point to your CA certificate bundle
export GPC_CA_CERT=/path/to/ca-bundle.crt

# Or for Node.js
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=/path/to/ca-bundle.crt

DNS resolution failed ​

Symptom: Error [NET_003]: getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND

Cause: DNS cannot resolve Google API hostnames.

Fix:

  • Check your network connection
  • Verify DNS settings
  • Try a public DNS server (e.g., 8.8.8.8)

Configuration ​

Profile not found ​

Symptom: Error [CFG_002]: Profile "production" not found

Cause: The specified profile does not exist in your configuration.

Fix:

bash
# List available profiles
gpc config profiles

# Check current profile
echo $GPC_PROFILE

# Create the profile
gpc config set --profile production app com.example.app

Config parse error ​

Symptom: Error [CFG_001]: Failed to parse config file

Cause: The configuration file contains invalid JSON or YAML.

Fix:

bash
# Validate your config file
gpc doctor

# Check the file manually
cat ~/.config/gpc/config.json | jq .

CI/CD ​

Non-interactive mode ​

Symptom: Error: Prompts are not supported in non-interactive mode

Cause: GPC is trying to prompt for input in a CI environment.

Fix:

bash
# Disable interactive prompts
export GPC_NO_INTERACTIVE=1

Missing step summary ​

Symptom: GitHub Actions step summary not appearing.

Cause: The GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY environment variable is not available.

Fix:

  • Ensure you are running inside a GitHub Actions workflow
  • Check that the step has write permissions to the summary file
  • Verify the --json flag is set for structured output

Output Formatting ​

Table or markdown output shows [object Object] ​

Symptom: When using --output table or --output markdown, columns containing nested objects display [object Object] instead of actual values.

Cause: Fixed in v0.9.18. Earlier versions did not serialize nested objects before rendering them in table or markdown format.

Fix: Update to v0.9.18 or later:

bash
npm install -g @gpc-cli/cli@latest

Rejected or In-Review Apps ​

"changesNotSentForReview" error on upload or promote ​

If your app was rejected by Google Play, all API edit commits fail until you acknowledge the rejection. GPC surfaces this as an API error.

Fix: Add --changes-not-sent-for-review to your command:

bash
gpc releases upload app.aab --track internal --changes-not-sent-for-review

This applies the changes without sending them for review. You must manually send for review from the Play Console when ready.

This flag works on all commands that modify your app: releases upload, releases promote, releases rollout *, publish, listings update/delete/push, listings images upload/delete, testers add/remove, tracks create/update, and apps update.

"CHANGES_ALREADY_IN_REVIEW" error ​

If someone already submitted changes for review (via the Play Console or another API client), committing a new edit will cancel the existing review by default.

To prevent accidental review cancellation in CI, add --error-if-in-review:

bash
gpc releases upload app.aab --track production --error-if-in-review

This fails with exit code 4 instead of silently cancelling the review. The edit remains valid, so you can retry after the review completes.

See the Rejected Apps section in the releases command reference for full details.

Getting More Help ​

Made by Yasser's Studio · Released under the MIT License.

Not affiliated with Google LLC. Google Play is a trademark of Google LLC.