diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 6af5fbd6..99e693fd 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -23,9 +23,10 @@ import (
 // Config is the configuration structure used to instantiate the Google
 // provider.
 type Config struct {
-	AccountFile string
-	Project     string
-	Region      string
+	AccountFile         string
+	AccountFileContents string
+	Project             string
+	Region              string
 
 	clientCompute *compute.Service
 	clientContainer *container.Service
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@ func (c *Config) loadAndValidate() error {
 	if c.AccountFile == "" {
 		c.AccountFile = os.Getenv("GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_FILE")
 	}
+	if c.AccountFileContents == "" {
+		c.AccountFileContents = os.Getenv("GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_FILE_CONTENTS")
+	}
 	if c.Project == "" {
 		c.Project = os.Getenv("GOOGLE_PROJECT")
 	}
diff --git a/provider.go b/provider.go
index 30cef8c1..c93812d5 100644
--- a/provider.go
+++ b/provider.go
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ func Provider() terraform.ResourceProvider {
 				DefaultFunc: schema.EnvDefaultFunc("GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_FILE", nil),
 			},
 
+			"account_file_contents": &schema.Schema{
+				Type:        schema.TypeString,
+				Optional:    true,
+				DefaultFunc: schema.EnvDefaultFunc("GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_FILE_CONTENTS", nil),
+			},
+
 			"project": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:        schema.TypeString,
 				Required:    true,