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::recommender_v1::RecommenderClient(
google::cloud::recommender_v1::MakeRecommenderConnection(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\u003eThis page provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials in the C++ Recommender client library, focusing on version 2.13.0 and above, with links to various versions, including the latest release candidate.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe C++ client libraries typically use Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authentication, but users can override this behavior when needed for specific cases.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAuthentication credentials can be overridden by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and explicitly loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation refers the reader to the best practices guide for managing service account keys and the authentication components page for more information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation on this page covers versions as far back as 2.11.0 and as recent as 2.37.0-rc, indicating the breadth of the content.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.13.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/latest/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.41.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.40.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.39.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.38.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.37.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.36.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.35.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.34.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.33.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.32.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.31.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.30.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.29.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.28.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.27.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.26.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.25.1/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.24.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.23.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.22.1/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.21.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.20.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.19.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.18.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.17.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.16.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.15.1/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.14.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.13.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.12.0/recommender-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/recommender/2.11.0/recommender-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::recommender_v1::RecommenderClient(\n google::cloud::recommender_v1::MakeRecommenderConnection(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."]]