Storage Transfer API

Name: Storage Transfer API API
Brand: Storage Transfer API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecStorageObject Storageoauth215 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Schedule and run bulk data transfers into Google Cloud Storage from S3, HTTP, on-prem, or another GCS bucket. Pause, resume, or cancel running transfer operations.

Quickstart

Get started with Storage Transfer API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"transfer data into Cloud Storage"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Storage Transfer API API.

Create scheduled or one-shot transfer jobs from S3, HTTP, on-premises, or another Cloud Storage bucket

Run a transfer job immediately and track the resulting transfer operation

Pause, resume, or cancel a long-running transfer operation

Manage agent pools used for on-premises POSIX-source transfers

GET STARTED

Start building with Storage Transfer API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

The Storage Transfer API moves data into Google Cloud Storage on a schedule or on demand. It supports transfers from Amazon S3, HTTP/HTTPS sources, on-premises POSIX file systems via agent pools, and another Cloud Storage bucket. A transfer job describes source, destination, schedule, and filtering rules; transfer operations are individual runs of those jobs that can be paused, resumed, or cancelled. The API also exposes Google service accounts used to grant the transfer service access to source data.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Storage Transfer API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ S3 to GCS Migration

Migrate a multi-terabyte S3 bucket into Cloud Storage as part of a cloud move. The Storage Transfer API accepts an awsS3DataSource with the bucket name and access credentials and a gcsDataSink with the destination bucket. The service handles parallelism, retries, and integrity checks; progress is reported through the transfer operation.

POST /v1/transferJobs with awsS3DataSource.bucketName='legacy-data', gcsDataSink.bucketName='migrated-data', schedule.scheduleStartDate=today.

Daily Vendor Drop Ingestion

Ingest a daily file drop from a partner's HTTPS endpoint into a Cloud Storage landing bucket. The transfer job runs on a schedule, fetches the file list, and copies new objects into the sink. Filtering rules skip already-transferred objects so each run handles only the deltas.

POST /v1/transferJobs with httpDataSource.listUrl=https://partner.example/manifest.tsv, gcsDataSink.bucketName='vendor-drops', schedule.scheduleStartDate=tomorrow.

On-Premises NAS Backup

Back up files from an on-premises NAS into a Cloud Storage archive bucket using a transfer agent pool. The Storage Transfer API exposes agent pool management for hosting the on-prem agents, and a posixDataSource on the transfer job that points the agent at a local path.

POST /v1/projects/myproj/agentPools to register the pool, then POST /v1/transferJobs with posixDataSource.rootDirectory='/mnt/nas/share' and the pool name.

AI Agent Data Sync

An AI agent setting up a new analytics environment needs to copy a snapshot of an existing GCS bucket into the new project's bucket. Through Jentic, the agent searches for the create-transfer-job operation, loads the schema, and submits the job — Jentic handles auth so the agent never sees the underlying access token.

Search Jentic for 'transfer data into Cloud Storage', execute POST /v1/transferJobs with gcsDataSource.bucketName='source' and gcsDataSink.bucketName='dest'.

Key Endpoints

15 endpoints — the storage transfer api moves data into google cloud storage on a schedule or on demand.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/v1/transferJobs

Create a transfer job

GET

/v1/transferJobs

List transfer jobs in a project

POST

/v1/{+jobName}:run

Run a transfer job immediately

POST

/v1/{+name}:pause

Pause a running transfer operation

POST

/v1/{+name}:resume

Resume a paused transfer operation

POST

/v1/{+name}:cancel

Cancel a running transfer operation

GET

/v1/googleServiceAccounts/{projectId}

Get the Google service account used by Storage Transfer for a project

GET

/v1/projects/{+projectId}/agentPools

List on-premises agent pools in a project

POST

/v1/transferJobs

Create a transfer job

GET

/v1/transferJobs

List transfer jobs in a project

POST

/v1/{+jobName}:run

Run a transfer job immediately

POST

/v1/{+name}:pause

Pause a running transfer operation

POST

/v1/{+name}:resume

Resume a paused transfer operation

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Storage Transfer OAuth credentials are stored in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem) and exchanged for scoped, short-lived access tokens. The project-specific Google service account used to read source data is identified via the googleServiceAccounts endpoint and granted source-side permissions out of band.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic with intents like 'transfer data into Cloud Storage' or 'migrate from S3 to GCS', and Jentic returns the matching transferJobs.create operation along with its request schema.

Time to first call

Direct Storage Transfer integration: 1-2 days to wire OAuth, source credential plumbing, and operation polling. Through Jentic: under 1 hour to discover, schema-load, and submit a job.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

Cloud Storage JSON API

Storage manages individual objects; Storage Transfer schedules bulk movement into Storage.

Use Cloud Storage JSON for per-object reads and writes. Use Storage Transfer when you need a managed service to copy entire datasets into Cloud Storage on a schedule.

Complementary

Backblaze B2

Backblaze B2 is an S3-compatible source bucket that Storage Transfer can read via S3-compatible source.

Use Backblaze B2 as a source when migrating data out of low-cost S3-compatible storage into Cloud Storage.

Alternative

Dataflow API

Dataflow runs custom transformation pipelines; Storage Transfer copies data without transformation.

Choose Dataflow when records need to be transformed, joined, or filtered en route. Choose Storage Transfer for managed bulk copies that preserve source content.

Complementary

Cloud Pub/Sub API

Pub/Sub can carry per-object notifications produced by Cloud Storage after Storage Transfer lands data.

Use Pub/Sub to fan out events to downstream pipelines once Storage Transfer has finished writing new objects to the sink bucket.

FAQs

Specific to using Storage Transfer API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Storage Transfer API use?

The Storage Transfer API uses OAuth 2.0 with the cloud-platform scope. Source access is delegated to a project-specific Google service account that must be granted read access on the S3, HTTP, or source GCS bucket. Through Jentic, OAuth credentials are stored in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem) and exchanged for short-lived access tokens.

Can I migrate from Amazon S3 with the Storage Transfer API?

Yes. Set awsS3DataSource on the transferSpec with the source bucket name and either an AWS access key pair or, preferably, role federation. The transfer service handles parallel object copy, retries, and integrity checks against the destination Cloud Storage bucket.

What are the rate limits for the Storage Transfer API?

Storage Transfer scales transfer throughput based on the source and sink rather than per-call quotas, but admin calls (job creation, listing) are subject to the standard project per-minute quotas — typically a few hundred requests per minute. Source-side limits (e.g. S3 LIST quotas) often dominate large migrations.

How do I run a transfer job through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'transfer data into Cloud Storage', load the transferJobs.create schema, and execute POST /v1/transferJobs. To run an existing job immediately, call POST /v1/{+jobName}:run, which Jentic surfaces as a separate operation.

Is the Storage Transfer API free?

The Storage Transfer Service is free for transfers from another Cloud Storage bucket and for on-premises agent transfers. Transfers from Amazon S3 or HTTP sources are billed per GB. Standard Cloud Storage operation, storage, and egress charges still apply on the destination side.

Can I pause and resume a running transfer?

Yes. POST /v1/{+name}:pause halts a running transferOperation and POST /v1/{+name}:resume continues it. POST /v1/{+name}:cancel terminates the operation entirely without resuming.