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\u003eThis document lists available versions of the AppHub documentation, ranging from version 2.23.0 to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe client libraries primarily utilize Application Default Credentials for authenticating with Google Cloud Services, but this default can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override default authentication by supplying the UnifiedCredentialsOption, and the provided code demonstrates how to load a service account key file explicitly.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document recommends reviewing the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for comprehensive details on service account key management.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more details on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, refer to the Authentication Components documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.28.0keyboard_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."]]