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::profiler_v2::ExportServiceClient(
google::cloud::profiler_v2::MakeExportServiceConnection(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 provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud client libraries, specifically focusing on the profiler service.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate for the profiler service is version 2.37.0-rc, while version 2.26.0 is presented as the current working version on this specific documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation demonstrates how to override default credentials using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e by loading a service account key file as shown with the provided code snippet.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples of overriding authentication for both \u003ccode\u003eExportServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003eProfilerServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e classes are available.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation references best practices for managing service account keys and provides links to further information on authentication components, such as creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.26.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/latest/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.41.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.40.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.39.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.38.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.37.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.36.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.35.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.34.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.33.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.32.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.31.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.30.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.29.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.28.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.27.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.26.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.25.1/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.24.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.23.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.22.1/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.21.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.20.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.19.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.18.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.17.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.16.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.15.1/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.14.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.13.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.12.0/profiler-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.11.0/profiler-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::profiler_v2::ExportServiceClient(\n google::cloud::profiler_v2::MakeExportServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`profiler_v2::ExportServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.26.0/profiler_v2_1_1ExportServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`profiler_v2::ProfilerServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/profiler/2.26.0/profiler_v2_1_1ProfilerServiceClient-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."]]