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 a reference for the \u003ccode\u003eosconfig-override-authentication\u003c/code\u003e across various versions, ranging from the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc down to version 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method for client libraries is Application Default Credentials, but you can override this by utilizing \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is given demonstrating the loading of a service account key file to override default authentication settings.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for \u003ccode\u003eAgentEndpointServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eOsConfigServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eOsConfigZonalServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e are available for users to reference and better understand how to implement the authentication override.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor further details and best practices regarding service account keys, refer to the linked guide, and for authentication component information, refer to the Authentication Components link.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.33.0keyboard_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/2.33.0/osconfig_agentendpoint_v1_1_1AgentEndpointServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`osconfig_v1::OsConfigServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.33.0/osconfig_v1_1_1OsConfigServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`osconfig_v1::OsConfigZonalServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/osconfig/2.33.0/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."]]