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::osconfig_agentendpoint_v1::AgentEndpointServiceClient(
google::cloud::osconfig_agentendpoint_v1::
MakeAgentEndpointServiceConnection(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 Application Default Credentials (ADC) used by the client libraries for authenticating with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, while the current displayed version is 2.18.0, and various other versions are listed, all of which detail how to override authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override default credentials by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and providing a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for other client classes like \u003ccode\u003eosconfig_agentendpoint_v1::AgentEndpointServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eosconfig_v1::OsConfigServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eosconfig_v1::OsConfigZonalServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e are available via links.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe page also directs users to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide and the "Authentication Components" section for further information.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.18.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/latest/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.41.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.40.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.39.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.38.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.37.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.36.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.35.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.34.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.33.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.32.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.31.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.30.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.29.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.28.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.27.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.26.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.25.1/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.24.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.23.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.22.1/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.21.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.20.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.19.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.18.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.17.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.16.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.15.1/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.14.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.13.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.12.0/osconfig-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.11.0/osconfig-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::osconfig_agentendpoint_v1::AgentEndpointServiceClient(\n google::cloud::osconfig_agentendpoint_v1::\n MakeAgentEndpointServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`osconfig_agentendpoint_v1::AgentEndpointServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.18.0/osconfig_agentendpoint_v1_1_1AgentEndpointServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`osconfig_v1::OsConfigServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.18.0/osconfig_v1_1_1OsConfigServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`osconfig_v1::OsConfigZonalServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.18.0/osconfig_v1_1_1OsConfigZonalServiceClient-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."]]