download file from google cloud compute instance

If you're connecting to the instance via https://console.cloud.google.com using SSH for Google Cloud Platform, you can download a specific file via "Download file" from the Settings menu (accessible through the settings icon in upper right corner).

This works for me - Mac OS X

gcloud compute scp username@vminstance:source-directory local-directory --zone instancezone

Before you have to set PATH correctly for using Google SDK.

PATH=/your-google-cloud-sdk-folder/bin:$PATH