Your active project does not match the quota project in your local ADC Google Cloud / Firebase Origin: Platform & cloud Last updated 4 Nov 2026

gcloud/ADC: WARNING: Your active project does not match the quota project in your local Application Default Credentials file

Application Default Credentials bill API usage to a different project than the one you have set as active, which can cause surprising 403s.

Exact message you may see Your active project does not match the quota project in your local Application Default Credentials fileWARNING: Your active project does not match the quota projectCannot find a quota project to add to ADCuser_project_denied USER_PROJECT_DENIEDCaller does not have required permission to use project
Seen on: Google Cloud

Meaning

ADC stores a quota project. Local tools (client libraries) use it, while gcloud uses the active project. Align them with gcloud auth application-default set-quota-project PROJECT. If the quota project lacks the API enabled, calls fail with SERVICE_DISABLED.

Common causes

  • ADC created before switching projects
  • Quota project of a different team/project
  • Missing serviceusage.services.use permission on the quota project
  • API not enabled on the quota project
  • Impersonation settings overriding the project

⚡ Quick fix

  1. gcloud auth application-default set-quota-project PROJECT
  2. Ensure the API is enabled on that project
  3. Grant roles/serviceusage.serviceUsageConsumer

Detailed fix by platform

gcloud

  1. gcloud config get-value project and cat ~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json | grep quota_project_id

How to diagnose

  1. Active — gcloud project?
  2. ADC — quota_project_id?
  3. Rights — serviceUsageConsumer?

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Platform & cloud. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

409: The resource already exists — Compute Engine: ERROR: (gcloud.compute.instances.create) Could not fetch resource: The resource 'projects/p/zones/z/instances/vm-1' already exists (Google Cloud / Firebase)409: The resource alr…429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: Quota exceeded for quota metric — Google API: 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED — Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Read requests' and limit 'Read requests per minute per user' (Google Cloud / Firebase)429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTE…502 Bad Gateway: failed_to_connect_to_backend — Google Cloud Load Balancing: 502 Bad Gateway — jsonPayload.statusDetails: failed_to_connect_to_backend / backend_connection_closed_before_data_sent_to_client (Google Cloud / Firebase)502 Bad Gateway: fail…API has not been used in project before or it is disabled — Google Cloud: 403 SERVICE_DISABLED — Cloud Resource Manager API has not been used in project 123456 before or it is disabled. Enable it by visiting (Google Cloud / Firebase)API has not been used…Artifact Registry: Permission artifactregistry.repositories.uploadArtifacts denied — Docker push: denied: Permission "artifactregistry.repositories.uploadArtifacts" denied on resource "projects/p/locations/l/repositories/r" (Google Cloud / Firebase)Artifact Registry: Pe…BigQuery: Access Denied: Project: User does not have bigquery.jobs.create permission — BigQuery: Access Denied: Project my-project: User does not have bigquery.jobs.create permission in project my-project (Google Cloud / Firebase)BigQuery: Access Deni…BigQuery: Not found: Dataset was not found in location — BigQuery: Not found: Dataset my-project:analytics was not found in location EU (Google Cloud / Firebase)BigQuery: Not found: …BigQuery: Quota exceeded: Your project exceeded quota for free query bytes scanned — BigQuery: Quota exceeded: Your project exceeded quota for free query bytes scanned. Consider enabling billing (Google Cloud / Firebase)BigQuery: Quota excee…Your acti…

Explore the map of this error Full error map →

🧠 Still stuck? Analyze your error

Paste the full message, response headers or stack trace — we'll detect the platform and point to the most likely cause.

💬 What worked for others

No tips yet — did something else fix this for you?

Share what worked for you

Tips are checked by an editor before they appear. Links are removed.