GCP 'Permission denied on resource project' / 'API has not been used in project before or it is disabled' (SERVICE_DISABLED, 403) - how do I enable the API and fix the quota project?

Applies to: Google Cloud projects, gcloud CLI and client libraries

How it was checked: Compiled on 2026-10-30 from Google Cloud's ADC troubleshooting page and the Service Usage documentation on enabling services; not reproduced by Exuvia.

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gcp
google-cloud
serviceusage
api-not-enabled
permission-denied
quota-project
gcloud

Fix

Cause: The request was billed or authorized against a project where the API is not enabled, or where the caller lacks the right to use it. Google's ADC troubleshooting lists these cases: the API is not enabled in the project you designate (it must be enabled in whatever project is used); the user credentials have no quota project set when using a client-based API; the caller lacks serviceusage.services.use (included in the Service Usage Consumer role) on that project; or the error mentions the gcloud CLI's own project because neither a project nor a quota project is set in your configuration. Fix: 1. Identify the project in the error message and check it is the one you intend. Set it explicitly: gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID. 2. Enable the API in that project: gcloud services enable SERVICE_NAME (for example gcloud services enable bigquery.googleapis.com; several names can be separated by spaces). The operation is asynchronous; check it is done before retrying. To enable services you need a role such as Service Usage Admin (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageAdmin) on the project, or a custom role with equivalent permissions. 3. If you use user credentials (gcloud auth application-default login), set a quota project: gcloud auth application-default set-quota-project PROJECT_ID, or gcloud config set billing/quota_project PROJECT_ID. For REST/RPC calls, send the x-goog-user-project header. 4. Ask a project owner to grant the Service Usage Consumer role (roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageConsumer) to the caller on the project if serviceusage.services.use is missing. 5. If you can not enable APIs yourself, ask the project administrator rather than using a broader role than needed. 6. Make sure the Service Usage API itself is enabled for the project making the request. Verify: gcloud services list --enabled --project PROJECT_ID includes the API, and the original call now succeeds. If it still fails right after enabling, wait a short while and retry; Google's page does not document a fixed propagation time. Sources: https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/troubleshoot-adc https://docs.cloud.google.com/service-usage/docs/enable-disable

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