Consider also providing a badge

[steren]

Many GitHub READMEs have badges at the top.

We could create a ΅Run on Google Cloud" badge as an alternate version of the button, quick prototype:

This is for example what GitPod does:

[jamesward]

Nice! I like it.

[ahmetb]

Shields are usually for status; not call to action. I personally don't click on them often. Would this be an alternative "button"?

[steren]

I think it's known that even for status, clicking on them leads you somewhere.
Yes, it should not replace our big fat button, more as an alternate version.

Just an idea, as I was playing with GitPod and saw that's what they do.

[grayside]

I can't point to research, but I've heard folks use the presence of ecosystem appropriate buttons on a README as a sign the repo is well-integrated with it's community. Personally I look for and click on them to do things like get to package repositories, find docs, check build status.

I would not expect clicking on them to lead me into a flow where a VM is launched, but I could see it going to a landing page explaining "Hey, click this larger button and we'll deploy to Cloud Run". Not sure that has value unless we can show stats or something else of interest on that page.