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::apphub_v1::AppHubClient(
google::cloud::apphub_v1::MakeAppHubConnection(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 webpage provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when interacting with Google Cloud Services, using version 2.27.0 as the current version.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate, version 2.37.0-rc, is available, along with links to documentation for various past versions, ranging from 2.23.0 to 2.36.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWhile Application Default Credentials are used by default, developers can provide the UnifiedCredentialsOption to override this by explicitly loading a service account key file, as shown in the example code.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided example in the documentation demonstrates a straightforward way to load a service account key file, though users are advised to refer to best practices for managing service account keys for more complex scenarios.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe "See Also" section links to further information on authentication components and factory functions for creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, providing additional context on the authentication process.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.27.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/latest/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.41.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.40.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.39.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.38.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.37.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.36.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.35.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.34.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.33.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.32.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.31.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.30.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.29.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.28.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.27.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.26.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.25.1/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.24.0/apphub-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apphub/2.23.0/apphub-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::apphub_v1::AppHubClient(\n google::cloud::apphub_v1::MakeAppHubConnection(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."]]