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::composer_v1::EnvironmentsClient(
google::cloud::composer_v1::MakeEnvironmentsConnection(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 page details how to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authenticating with Google Cloud Services, which is done by providing a \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe content provides a code example demonstrating how to load a service account key file to override the default authentication, and then set the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest available version is 2.37.0-rc, and the page shows a comprehensive list of all other version releases from 2.11.0 to 2.36.0, all related to overriding authentication credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIt refers to the guide "Best practices for managing service account keys" and the "Authentication Components" section for further details and best practices on handling service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe page uses examples from the \u003ccode\u003ecomposer_v1::EnvironmentsClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003ecomposer_v1::ImageVersionsClient\u003c/code\u003e classes to demonstrate the process.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.17.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/latest/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.41.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.40.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.39.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.38.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.37.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.36.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.35.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.34.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.33.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.32.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.31.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.30.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.29.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.28.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.27.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.26.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.25.1/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.24.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.23.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.22.1/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.21.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.20.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.19.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.18.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.17.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.16.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.15.1/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.14.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.13.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.12.0/composer-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.11.0/composer-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::composer_v1::EnvironmentsClient(\n google::cloud::composer_v1::MakeEnvironmentsConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`composer_v1::EnvironmentsClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.17.0/composer_v1_1_1EnvironmentsClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`composer_v1::ImageVersionsClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/composer/2.17.0/composer_v1_1_1ImageVersionsClient-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."]]