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::webrisk_v1::WebRiskServiceClient(
google::cloud::webrisk_v1::MakeWebRiskServiceConnection(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\u003eThe latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, with numerous other versions, starting at 2.36.0 and going all the way down to 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation explains how to override the default authentication credentials by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e when the standard \u003ccode\u003eApplication Default Credentials\u003c/code\u003e are not suitable.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can manually load a service account key file by providing the path to a file containing the credentials with \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents)\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code snippet demonstrates how to load a service account key file, although the documentation recommends referring to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for comprehensive information.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, consult the \u003ccode\u003eAuthentication Components\u003c/code\u003e documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.26.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/latest/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.41.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.40.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.39.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.38.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.37.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.36.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.35.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.34.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.33.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.32.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.31.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.30.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.29.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.28.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.27.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.26.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.25.1/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.24.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.23.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.22.1/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.21.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.20.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.19.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.18.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.17.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.16.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.15.1/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.14.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.13.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.12.0/webrisk-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/webrisk/2.11.0/webrisk-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::webrisk_v1::WebRiskServiceClient(\n google::cloud::webrisk_v1::MakeWebRiskServiceConnection(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."]]