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::gkehub_v1::GkeHubClient(
google::cloud::gkehub_v1::MakeGkeHubConnection(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 latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, with numerous preceding versions listed, all the way down to version 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document explains how to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authenticating with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override default credentials by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code example uses minimal error handling, and users should refer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for more robust implementations.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document also references the "Authentication Components" section for more details on the factory functions used to create credentials objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.22.1keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/latest/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.41.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.40.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.39.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.38.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.37.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.36.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.35.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.34.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.33.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.32.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.31.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.30.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.29.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.28.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.27.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.26.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.25.1/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.24.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.23.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.22.1/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.21.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.20.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.19.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.18.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.17.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.16.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.15.1/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.14.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.13.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.12.0/gkehub-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkehub/2.11.0/gkehub-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::gkehub_v1::GkeHubClient(\n google::cloud::gkehub_v1::MakeGkeHubConnection(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."]]