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::tasks_v2::CloudTasksClient(
google::cloud::tasks_v2::MakeCloudTasksConnection(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 in the C++ client libraries for Google Cloud services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version documented here is 2.37.0-rc, with a list of versions available, ranging down to 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method uses Application Default Credentials, but users can override this by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is provided to illustrate how to explicitly load a service account key file using \u003ccode\u003eMakeServiceAccountCredentials\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers are advised to refer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for detailed information and to the "Authentication Components" section for factory functions to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.34.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/latest/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.41.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.40.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.39.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.38.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.37.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.36.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.35.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.34.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.33.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.32.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.31.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.30.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.29.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.28.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.27.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.26.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.25.1/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.24.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.23.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.22.1/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.21.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.20.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.19.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.18.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.17.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.16.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.15.1/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.14.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.13.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.12.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.11.0/tasks-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::tasks_v2::CloudTasksClient(\n google::cloud::tasks_v2::MakeCloudTasksConnection(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."]]