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::datastream_v1::DatastreamClient(
google::cloud::datastream_v1::MakeDatastreamConnection(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 various versions of a data stream, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe main focus of the content is explaining how to override the default authentication credentials used by client libraries when interacting with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override the default credentials by leveraging the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, demonstrated through an example of loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided example demonstrates the implementation of the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e by providing code.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe example highlights the importance of referencing the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for additional information and to ensure security.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.17.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/latest/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.41.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.40.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.39.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.38.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.37.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.36.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.35.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.34.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.33.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.32.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.31.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.30.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.29.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.28.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.27.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.26.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.25.1/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.24.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.23.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.22.1/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.21.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.20.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.19.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.18.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.17.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.16.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.15.1/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.14.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.13.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.12.0/datastream-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastream/2.11.0/datastream-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::datastream_v1::DatastreamClient(\n google::cloud::datastream_v1::MakeDatastreamConnection(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."]]