Deploy a Docker container as a Google Cloud Run job

For a recent project tracking flight delays, I wanted to run a Python script that would collect data on a schedule, using Google Cloud. Here's the workflow for containerizing code with Docker and deploying it as a Cloud Run job:

1. Create a Dockerfile

In the project directory, create a file named Dockerfile that defines the container image:

FROM python:3.11-slim

WORKDIR /app

COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

# Copy application code
COPY . .

CMD ["python", "main.py"]

2. Build and push the Docker image

First, configure Docker to authenticate with Google Cloud:

gcloud auth configure-docker

Then build the image locally, tagging it with the Google Container Registry path:

docker build -t gcr.io/project/job-name .

Finally, push the image to Google Container Registry:

docker push gcr.io/project/job-name

3. Create the Cloud Run job

With the image in the registry, create a Cloud Run job that references it:

gcloud run jobs create job-name \
  --image gcr.io/project/job-name \
  --region us-central1

The job can then be executed manually with gcloud run jobs execute job-name, or triggered on a schedule using Cloud Scheduler.