Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries useApplication Default Credentialsto 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 theUnifiedCredentialsOptionThe 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::deploy_v1::CloudDeployClient(
google::cloud::deploy_v1::MakeCloudDeployConnection(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 2025-09-04 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis page provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud client libraries, with version-specific information ranging from 2.11.0 to 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method uses Application Default Credentials, but developers can override this by employing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is provided demonstrating how to load a service account key file to authenticate, and it suggests consulting the service account key management guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ccode\u003eAuthentication Components\u003c/code\u003e section offers more details on the factory functions used to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate is version 2.37.0-rc, while the most current full version is 2.36.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.20.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/latest/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.41.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.40.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.39.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.38.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.37.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.36.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.35.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.34.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.33.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.32.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.31.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.30.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.29.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.28.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.27.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.26.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.25.1/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.24.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.23.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.22.1/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.21.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.20.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.19.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.18.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.17.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.16.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.15.1/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.14.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.13.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.12.0/deploy-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/deploy/2.11.0/deploy-override-authentication) \n\nHow to Override the Authentication Credentials\n==============================================\n\nUnless otherwise configured, the client libraries use [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication#adc) 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](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/structgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1UnifiedCredentialsOption.html) The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file: \n\n [](std::string const& keyfile) {\n auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);\n is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples\n auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator\u003cchar\u003e(is.rdbuf()), {});\n auto options =\n google::cloud::Options{}.set\u003cgoogle::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption\u003e(\n google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));\n return google::cloud::deploy_v1::CloudDeployClient(\n google::cloud::deploy_v1::MakeCloudDeployConnection(options));\n }\n\nKeep in mind that we chose this as an example because it is relatively easy to understand. Consult the [Best practices for managing service account keys](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys) guide for more details.\n\n###### See Also\n\n[Authentication Components](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html) - for more information on the factory functions to create [`google::cloud::Credentials`](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html) objects."]]