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::sql_v1::SqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceClient(
google::cloud::sql_v1::
MakeSqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceConnectionRest(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\u003eThe latest version for overriding authentication is 2.37.0-rc, while the version currently displayed is 2.30.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication for client libraries is through Application Default Credentials, but this can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo override the default credentials, you can use \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, as demonstrated with loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExample snippets for overriding authentication are provided for various \u003ccode\u003e*Client\u003c/code\u003e classes within the \u003ccode\u003esql_v1\u003c/code\u003e namespace, including \u003ccode\u003eSqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003eSqlUsersServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor security best practices regarding managing service account keys, you can refer to the provided external guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.30.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/latest/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.41.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.40.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.39.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.38.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.37.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.36.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.35.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.34.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.33.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.32.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.31.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.29.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.28.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.27.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.26.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.25.1/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.24.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.23.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.22.1/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.21.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.20.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.19.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.18.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.17.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.16.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.15.1/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.14.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.13.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.12.0/sql-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.11.0/sql-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::sql_v1::SqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceClient(\n google::cloud::sql_v1::\n MakeSqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceConnectionRest(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`sql_v1::SqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlAvailableDatabaseVersionsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlBackupRunsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlBackupRunsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlConnectServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlConnectServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlDatabasesServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlDatabasesServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlEventsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlEventsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlFlagsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlFlagsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlIamPoliciesServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlIamPoliciesServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlInstanceNamesServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlInstanceNamesServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlInstancesServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlInstancesServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlOperationsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlOperationsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlRegionsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlRegionsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlSslCertsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlSslCertsServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlTiersServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlTiersServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`sql_v1::SqlUsersServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/sql/2.30.0/sql_v1_1_1SqlUsersServiceClient-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."]]