Create Serverless Project

Create Elastic Cloud Serverless projects using the Serverless REST API. Use the

cloud-manage-project

skill for day-2 operations like listing, updating, or deleting projects.

Prerequisites and permissions

Ensure
```
EC_API_KEY
```
is configured. If not, run
```
cloud-setup
```
skill first.
Creating projects requires a Cloud API key with Admin or Organization owner role.
This skill does not perform a separate role pre-check. Attempt the requested operation and let the API enforce authorization. If the API returns an authorization error (for example,
```
403 Forbidden
```
), stop and ask the user to verify the provided API key permissions.

Manual setup fallback (when

cloud-setup

is unavailable)

If this skill is installed standalone and

cloud-setup

is not available, instruct the user to configure Cloud environment variables manually before running commands. Never ask the user to paste API keys in chat.

Variable	Required	Description
`EC_API_KEY`	Yes	Elastic Cloud API key used for project creation operations.
`EC_BASE_URL`	No	Cloud API base URL (default: `https://api.elastic-cloud.com` ).

Note: If
EC_API_KEY
is missing, or the user does not have a Cloud API key yet, direct the user to generate one at Elastic Cloud API keys, then configure it locally using the steps below.

Preferred method (agent-friendly): create a

.env

file in the project root:

bash

EC_API_KEY=your-api-key
EC_BASE_URL=https://api.elastic-cloud.com

All

cloud/*

scripts auto-load

.env

from the working directory.

Alternative: export directly in the terminal:

bash

export EC_API_KEY="<your-cloud-api-key>"
export EC_BASE_URL="https://api.elastic-cloud.com"

Terminal exports may not be visible to sandboxed agents running in separate shell sessions, so prefer

.env

when using an agent.

Critical principles

Never display secrets in chat. Do not echo, log, or repeat API keys, passwords, or credentials in conversation messages or agent thinking. Direct the user to the
```
.elastic-credentials
```
file instead. The admin password must never appear in chat history, thinking traces, or agent output.
Confirm before creating. Always present the project configuration to the user and ask for confirmation before running the creation script.
Admin credentials are for API key creation only. The script saves the
```
admin
```
password to
```
.elastic-credentials
```
for bootstrapping a scoped API key. The
```
admin
```
user has full privileges and cannot be modified in serverless. Never use admin credentials for direct Elasticsearch operations (querying, indexing, etc.) — always create a scoped API key first (see Step 8). The
```
load-credentials
```
command excludes admin credentials by default — use
```
--include-admin
```
only during Step 7/8, then reload without it once the API key is created. Never read or display the contents of
```
.elastic-credentials
```
in chat.
Recover lost credentials. If the script fails to write
```
.elastic-credentials
```
(disk full, permissions, etc.), the save may be incomplete. Check
```
.elastic-credentials
```
for the password first. If missing, use the
```
cloud-manage-project
```
skill's
```
reset-credentials
```
command to generate a new password.
Region is permanent. A project's region cannot be changed after creation.
Prefer automatic readiness checks. Pass
```
--wait
```
to the creation script so it polls until the phase changes from
```
initializing
```
to
```
initialized
```
. Only fall back to manually polling the status endpoint if
```
--wait
```
is unavailable.

Project types

Type	Description	Key endpoints
`elasticsearch`	Search, analytics, and vector workloads	Elasticsearch, Kibana
`observability`	Logs, metrics, traces, and APM	Elasticsearch, Kibana, APM, OTLP
`security`	SIEM, endpoint protection, cloud security	Elasticsearch, Kibana, OTLP

Project type inference

Map the user's request to the correct

--type

value:

User says	`--type`
"search project", "elasticsearch project", vector search	`elasticsearch`
"observability project", "o11y", logs, metrics, traces, APM	`observability`
"security project", "SIEM", detections, endpoint protection	`security`

Do not silently default to any type. If the user does not specify a type, infer it from the conversation context (for example, discussing log ingestion suggests

observability

, discussing detections or SIEM suggests

security

, discussing search or vector workloads suggests

elasticsearch

). Always present the inferred type to the user and ask for confirmation before proceeding. If context is insufficient to infer a type, ask the user to choose.

Product tiers

Observability and security projects support a

--product-tier

flag. Default to

complete

unless the user explicitly requests a different tier.

Project type	Tier	Description
`observability`	`complete`	Full observability suite (logs, metrics, traces, APM)
`observability`	`logs_essentials`	Log management only
`security`	`complete`	Full security suite (SIEM, cloud, endpoint)
`security`	`essentials`	Core SIEM only

Elasticsearch projects do not have a product tier — use

--optimized-for

instead.

Sensible defaults

Present these defaults to the user before creation. Ask if they want to use or change them:

Setting	Default
Region	`gcp-us-central1`

Project type must be confirmed with the user — do not assume a default. See "Project type inference" above.

Always use

--optimized-for general_purpose

unless the user explicitly requests

vector

. Do not proactively offer the

vector

option.

If the user does not specify a name, ask for one — it is required.

Workflow: Create a project

text

Project Creation:
- [ ] Step 1: Verify API key is set
- [ ] Step 2: Present defaults and confirm with user
- [ ] Step 3: List available regions (optional)
- [ ] Step 4: Create the project
- [ ] Step 5: Save credentials and endpoints
- [ ] Step 6: Wait for project to initialize
- [ ] Step 7: Set environment variables
- [ ] Step 8: Recommend creating a scoped API key

Step 1: Verify API key is set

bash

echo "${EC_API_KEY:?Not set}"

EC_API_KEY

is not set, run the

cloud-setup

skill first to configure authentication and defaults.

Step 2: Present summary and confirm with user

Before presenting the summary, ensure the project type has been explicitly confirmed by the user. If no type was specified, infer one from the conversation context and propose it. If the context is ambiguous, ask the user to choose from

elasticsearch

observability

, or

security

Always show a confirmation summary before creating. Include different fields depending on project type:

Elasticsearch project:

text

Project Summary:
  Type:          elasticsearch
  Name:          my-project
  Region:        gcp-us-central1

Observability project:

text

Project Summary:
  Type:          observability
  Name:          my-project
  Region:        gcp-us-central1
  Product tier:  complete

Security project:

text

Project Summary:
  Type:          security
  Name:          my-project
  Region:        gcp-us-central1
  Product tier:  complete

Ask the user to confirm or override any values before proceeding.

Step 3: List available regions (optional)

bash

python3 skills/cloud/create-project/scripts/create-project.py list-regions

The output is grouped by cloud provider (AWS, Azure, GCP) and sorted alphabetically. Regions marked with

do not support project creation.

Step 4: Create the project

bash

python3 skills/cloud/create-project/scripts/create-project.py create \
  --type elasticsearch \
  --name "my-project" \
  --region gcp-us-central1 \
  --optimized-for general_purpose \
  --wait

Always pass

--optimized-for general_purpose

for Elasticsearch projects. Only use

vector

if the user explicitly requests it.

For observability and security projects, pass

--product-tier complete

unless the user explicitly requests a different tier.

Always pass

--wait

so the script automatically polls until the project is ready.

Step 5: Save credentials and endpoints

The script automatically writes credentials to

.elastic-credentials

in the working directory. The password is redacted from the JSON output on stdout.

If saving succeeds, tell the user:

text

Credentials saved to .elastic-credentials — open that file to retrieve your password.

Do not read, cat, or display the contents of

.elastic-credentials

in chat.

If saving fails, the script prints an error to stderr. Check whether

.elastic-credentials

exists and contains a password (a partial write is possible). If the password is missing or the file does not exist, immediately run the

cloud-manage-project

skill's

reset-credentials

command to generate a new password.

The creation response also contains:

Project ID — needed for all subsequent operations
Cloud ID — for client libraries
Elasticsearch and Kibana endpoints — safe to display in chat

The admin credentials are for initial bootstrap only. Recommend creating a scoped API key for ongoing access (Step 8).

Step 6: Wait for project to initialize

When

--wait

is passed (recommended), the script polls automatically until the project phase becomes

initialized

. No manual polling is needed.

If the agent ran without

--wait

, poll manually:

bash

python3 skills/cloud/create-project/scripts/create-project.py status \
  --type elasticsearch \
  --id <project-id>

Repeat until

phase

changes from

initializing

initialized

Step 7: Set environment variables

The creation script saves credentials and endpoints to

.elastic-credentials

with the project name in the header. Load them into the current shell with
--include-admin
so admin credentials are available for API key creation in Step 8:

bash

eval $(python3 skills/cloud/manage-project/scripts/manage-project.py load-credentials \
  --name "<project-name>" --include-admin)

This sets

ELASTICSEARCH_URL

KIBANA_URL

, any project-type specific endpoints (

APM_URL

INGEST_URL

), and the admin

ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME

ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD

needed to bootstrap an API key.

Step 8: Create a scoped API key

The

admin

user has full privileges and cannot be modified in serverless projects. Do not proceed with Elasticsearch operations using admin credentials. Create a scoped Elasticsearch API key with only the permissions the user needs.

If the

elasticsearch-authn

skill is available, use it for API key creation — it covers the full lifecycle (create, grant, invalidate, query) and handles scoping privileges correctly. If the skill is not installed, ask the user to either install it or create the API key manually through Kibana > Stack Management > API keys. After creation, save the API key to

.elastic-credentials

using the project-specific header format (see

manage-project

skill's "Credential file format" section), then reload without
--include-admin
to drop admin credentials from the environment:

bash

eval $(python3 skills/cloud/manage-project/scripts/manage-project.py load-credentials \
  --name "<project-name>")

Examples

Create an Elasticsearch project with defaults

bash

python3 skills/cloud/create-project/scripts/create-project.py create \
  --type elasticsearch \
  --name "my-search-project" \
  --region gcp-us-central1 \
  --optimized-for general_purpose \
  --wait

Create an observability project

bash

python3 skills/cloud/create-project/scripts/create-project.py create \
  --type observability \
  --name "prod-o11y" \
  --region aws-eu-west-1 \
  --product-tier complete \
  --wait

Create a security project

bash

python3 skills/cloud/create-project/scripts/create-project.py create \
  --type security \
  --name "siem-prod" \
  --region gcp-us-central1 \
  --product-tier complete \
  --wait

Guidelines

Run the
```
cloud-setup
```
skill first if
```
EC_API_KEY
```
is not set.
Always confirm the project configuration with the user before creating.
Never display passwords or API keys in chat. Direct the user to
```
.elastic-credentials
```
.
Never silently default to a project type. Infer from context and confirm with the user.
Default to
```
general_purpose
```
optimization. Only use
```
vector
```
if the user explicitly requests it.
Default to
```
complete
```
product tier for observability and security projects. Only use
```
logs_essentials
```
or
```
essentials
```
if the user explicitly requests it.
Always pass
```
--wait
```
so the script polls until the project is ready.
If credential saving fails, immediately reset credentials using the
```
cloud-manage-project
```
skill.
After creation, recommend creating a scoped API key instead of relying on admin credentials.
Region cannot be changed after creation — confirm the choice before proceeding.

Script reference

Command	Description
`create`	Create a new serverless project
`status`	Get project initialization status
`list-regions`	List available regions

Flag	Commands	Description
`--type`	create, status	Project type: `elasticsearch` , `observability` , `security`
`--name`	create	Project name (required)
`--region`	create	Region ID (default: `gcp-us-central1` )
`--id`	status	Project ID
`--optimized-for`	create	Elasticsearch subtype: `general_purpose` or `vector`
`--product-tier`	create	Observability/security tier (see "Product tiers" section)
`--wait`	create	Poll until project is initialized before exiting

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
`EC_API_KEY`	Yes	Elastic Cloud API key
`EC_BASE_URL`	No	Cloud API base URL (default: `https://api.elastic-cloud.com` )
`ELASTICSEARCH_URL`	Output	Elasticsearch URL (loaded via `load-credentials` after creation)
`KIBANA_URL`	Output	Kibana URL (loaded via `load-credentials` after creation)
`APM_URL`	Output	APM endpoint (observability projects only)
`INGEST_URL`	Output	OTLP ingest endpoint (observability and security projects)
`ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY`	Output	Elasticsearch API key (created in Step 8, loaded via `load-credentials` )

Additional resources

For full API details, request/response schemas, and project-type options, see references/api-reference.md

cloud-create-project

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Create Serverless Project

Prerequisites and permissions

Manual setup fallback (when
`cloud-setup`
is unavailable)

Critical principles

Project types

Project type inference

Product tiers

Sensible defaults

Workflow: Create a project

Step 1: Verify API key is set

Step 2: Present summary and confirm with user

Step 3: List available regions (optional)

Step 4: Create the project

Step 5: Save credentials and endpoints

Step 6: Wait for project to initialize

Step 7: Set environment variables

Step 8: Create a scoped API key

Examples

Create an Elasticsearch project with defaults

Create an observability project

Create a security project

Guidelines

Script reference

Environment variables

Additional resources