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 webpage provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials in Google Cloud C++ client libraries, using \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe content details how to explicitly load a service account key file for authentication, replacing the use of Application Default Credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate version for billing-override-authentication is 2.37.0-rc, with a history of versions dating back to 2.11.0 available for reference.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe page includes code examples demonstrating how to implement service account authentication with various client classes like \u003ccode\u003eBudgetServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eCloudBillingClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eCloudCatalogClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided documentation directs users to best practices for managing service account keys and additional information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.24.0keyboard_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/2.24.0/billing_budgets_v1_1_1BudgetServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`billing_v1::CloudBillingClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.24.0/billing_v1_1_1CloudBillingClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`billing_v1::CloudCatalogClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/billing/2.24.0/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."]]