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::retail_v2::AnalyticsServiceClient(
google::cloud::retail_v2::MakeAnalyticsServiceConnection(options));
}
Follow these links to find examples for other*Clientclasses:
[[["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 Services with C++ client libraries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version available for override authentication is \u003ccode\u003e2.37.0-rc\u003c/code\u003e, and multiple versions dating back to \u003ccode\u003e2.11.0\u003c/code\u003e are also listed.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method utilizes Application Default Credentials, but users can override this by employing \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e to load a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation provides examples for overriding credentials with various \u003ccode\u003e*Client\u003c/code\u003e classes, such as \u003ccode\u003eAnalyticsServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eCatalogServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eSearchServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor best practices regarding service account key management, users should refer to the linked "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.35.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/latest/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.41.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.40.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.39.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.38.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.37.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.36.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.34.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.33.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.32.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.31.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.30.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.29.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.28.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.27.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.26.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.25.1/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.24.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.23.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.22.1/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.21.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.20.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.19.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.18.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.17.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.16.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.15.1/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.14.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.13.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.12.0/retail-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.11.0/retail-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::retail_v2::AnalyticsServiceClient(\n google::cloud::retail_v2::MakeAnalyticsServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`retail_v2::AnalyticsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1AnalyticsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::CatalogServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1CatalogServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::CompletionServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1CompletionServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::ControlServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1ControlServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::ModelServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1ModelServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::PredictionServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1PredictionServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::ProductServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1ProductServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::SearchServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1SearchServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::ServingConfigServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1ServingConfigServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`retail_v2::UserEventServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/retail/2.35.0/retail_v2_1_1UserEventServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\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."]]