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 document provides versioned documentation for the OS Config C++ client library, with the latest release candidate being version 2.37.0-rc and the current displayed version being 2.26.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe content explains how to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authenticating with Google Cloud services using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eA service account key file can be explicitly loaded to override default credentials, as demonstrated in the provided code example that uses \u003ccode\u003eMakeServiceAccountCredentials\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples are provided for overriding credentials with the \u003ccode\u003eAgentEndpointServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eOsConfigServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eOsConfigZonalServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e client classes.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document references best practices and provides additional resources to better understand the factory functions needed to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.26.0keyboard_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/2.26.0/osconfig_agentendpoint_v1_1_1AgentEndpointServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`osconfig_v1::OsConfigServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.26.0/osconfig_v1_1_1OsConfigServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`osconfig_v1::OsConfigZonalServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.26.0/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."]]