Automating gsc-indexer in CI with -json and exit codes

gsc-indexer is built to run unattended. in a cron job, a GitHub Action, or any pipeline. Two features make that safe: machine-readable output and predictable exit codes.

-json: parseable output

-json emits a single JSON array of results at the end, with no progress noise in between (so the output stays valid JSON):

./gsc-indexer -creds sa.json -batch urls.txt -json

Each element looks like:

{
  "url": "https://www.toolsura.com/post/",
  "indexed": true,
  "coverage_state": "Submitted and indexed",
  "fetch_state": "SUCCESSFUL",
  "last_crawl_time": "2026-07-18T07:05:51Z"
}

Pipe it into jq or your own script to act on the results.

Exit codes

• Exit 0. the run finished. This includes URLs that are merely NOT INDEXED. that's a normal result, not a failure.
• Exit non-zero. at least one URL failed (network error, HTTP error, or unparseable response).

This makes the tool CI-friendly: a pipeline step fails only when something genuinely broke, not just because a page isn't indexed yet.

Example: nightly sitemap re-index (cron)

## m h dom mon dow   command
30 3 * * *  cd /opt/gsc-indexer && ./gsc-indexer -creds /etc/sa.json "https://www.toolsura.com/sitemap.xml" -delay 10s -q -report /var/log/gsc-report >> /var/log/gsc.log 2>&1

Example: GitHub Action

name: reindex
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "30 3 * * *"
jobs:
  index:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
      - run: go build -o gsc-indexer .
      - run: ./gsc-indexer -creds "$GSC_CREDS" "https://www.toolsura.com/sitemap.xml" -delay 10s -q
        env:
          GSC_CREDS: ${{ secrets.GSC_CREDS }}

Store sa.json as a secret (file or env var). Never commit credentials to the repo.

-color: never breaks piped output

Color is auto by default (on for terminals, off when piped). You can force it with -color always or disable it with -color never. Color is decorative only. the INDEXED / NOT INDEXED text always carries the meaning.

Next

• Still seeing errors in automation? Troubleshooting.

Sources

• Google Search Console
• URL Inspection API documentation
• Google Search APIs overview
• Service account OAuth (Google Identity)
• About service accounts (Google Cloud IAM)
• Verify site ownership
• Property types: URL-prefix vs Domain
• URL Inspection tool help
• Indexing API (JobPosting/BroadcastEvent only)
• Request indexing / inspect a URL