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::functions_v1::CloudFunctionsServiceClient(
google::cloud::functions_v1::MakeCloudFunctionsServiceConnection(
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 documents how to override the default authentication credentials used by Google Cloud client libraries, which typically rely on Application Default Credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo override the default credentials, you can use \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and explicitly load a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version of these documents are the 2.37.0-rc release candidate, which are listed on this page, as well as all releases back to version 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples of overriding authentication for \u003ccode\u003efunctions_v1::CloudFunctionsServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003efunctions_v2::FunctionServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e are available via provided links.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eRefer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for detailed information on managing service account keys and the "Authentication Components" page for more information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.17.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/latest/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.41.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.40.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.39.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.38.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.37.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.36.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.35.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.34.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.33.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.32.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.31.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.30.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.29.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.28.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.27.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.26.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.25.1/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.24.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.23.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.22.1/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.21.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.20.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.19.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.18.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.17.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.16.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.15.1/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.14.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.13.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.12.0/functions-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.11.0/functions-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::functions_v1::CloudFunctionsServiceClient(\n google::cloud::functions_v1::MakeCloudFunctionsServiceConnection(\n options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`functions_v1::CloudFunctionsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.17.0/functions_v1_1_1CloudFunctionsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`functions_v2::FunctionServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/functions/2.17.0/functions_v2_1_1FunctionServiceClient-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."]]