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::privateca_v1::CertificateAuthorityServiceClient(
google::cloud::privateca_v1::MakeCertificateAuthorityServiceConnection(
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\u003eThe latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, with numerous preceding versions down to 2.11.0 also accessible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe client libraries generally use Application Default Credentials for Google Cloud service authentication, but this can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAuthentication can be overridden by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e to load specific credentials, such as those from a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code demonstrates how to explicitly load credentials from a service account key file as an example of credential override.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor best practices regarding service account keys and creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, consult the linked guides on managing service account keys and authentication components, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.30.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/latest/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.41.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.40.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.39.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.38.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.37.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.36.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.35.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.34.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.33.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.32.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.31.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.30.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.29.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.28.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.27.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.26.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.25.1/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.24.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.23.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.22.1/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.21.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.20.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.19.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.18.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.17.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.16.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.15.1/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.14.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.13.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.12.0/privateca-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/privateca/2.11.0/privateca-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::privateca_v1::CertificateAuthorityServiceClient(\n google::cloud::privateca_v1::MakeCertificateAuthorityServiceConnection(\n 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."]]