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::billing_budgets_v1::BudgetServiceClient(
google::cloud::billing_budgets_v1::MakeBudgetServiceConnection(
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 document provides versioned documentation for the Google Cloud Billing C++ client library, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate, 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate version of the billing client library is version 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document explains how to override the default authentication method, which is Application Default Credentials, by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples are provided demonstrating how to load a service account key file to authenticate specifically, while also linking examples for \u003ccode\u003ebilling_budgets_v1::BudgetServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003ebilling_v1::CloudBillingClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003ebilling_v1::CloudCatalogClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document references external resources such as "Best practices for managing service account keys" and "Authentication Components" for further details on authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.16.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/latest/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.41.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.40.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.39.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.38.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.37.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.36.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.35.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.34.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.33.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.32.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.31.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.30.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.29.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.28.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.27.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.26.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.25.1/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.24.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.23.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.22.1/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.21.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.20.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.19.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.18.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.17.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.16.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.15.1/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.14.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.13.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.12.0/billing-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.11.0/billing-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::billing_budgets_v1::BudgetServiceClient(\n google::cloud::billing_budgets_v1::MakeBudgetServiceConnection(\n options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`billing_budgets_v1::BudgetServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.16.0/billing_budgets_v1_1_1BudgetServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`billing_v1::CloudBillingClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.16.0/billing_v1_1_1CloudBillingClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`billing_v1::CloudCatalogClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.16.0/billing_v1_1_1CloudCatalogClient-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."]]