Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries use Application Default Credentials to authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing the UnifiedCredentialsOption The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file:
[](std::string const& keyfile) {
auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);
is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples
auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(is.rdbuf()), {});
auto options =
google::cloud::Options{}.set<google::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption>(
google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));
return google::cloud::apikeys_v2::ApiKeysClient(
google::cloud::apikeys_v2::MakeApiKeysConnection(options));
}
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-03-14 UTC."],[[["This webpage provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud client libraries, with version-specific information ranging from 2.11.0 to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc."],["Client libraries typically use Application Default Credentials (ADC), but you can override this by providing a UnifiedCredentialsOption."],["The example demonstrates explicitly loading a service account key file for authentication, using the `google::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption`."],["It is recommended to consult the guide on best practices for managing service account keys for more details."],["The `Authentication Components` section offers further details on creating `google::cloud::Credentials` objects."]]],[]]