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::domains_v1::DomainsClient(
google::cloud::domains_v1::MakeDomainsConnection(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 provides versioned documentation for overriding authentication credentials when using Google Cloud C++ client libraries, covering versions from 2.12.0 up to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBy default, the client libraries use Application Default Credentials, but you can override this by using \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document includes an example demonstrating how to load a service account key file to explicitly set authentication credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document provides links to relevant external documentation that can provide more information, such as best practices for service account key management and general authentication components.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.31.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/latest/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.41.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.40.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.39.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.38.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.37.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.36.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.35.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.34.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.33.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.32.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.31.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.30.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.29.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.28.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.27.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.26.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.25.1/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.24.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.23.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.22.1/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.21.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.20.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.19.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.18.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.17.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.16.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.15.1/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.14.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.13.0/domains-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/domains/2.12.0/domains-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::domains_v1::DomainsClient(\n google::cloud::domains_v1::MakeDomainsConnection(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."]]