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::apigateway_v1::ApiGatewayServiceClient(
google::cloud::apigateway_v1::MakeApiGatewayServiceConnection(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 release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, and multiple previous versions are also available, ranging from 2.36.0 down to 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eClient libraries primarily utilize Application Default Credentials for Google Cloud Services authentication, though this can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAuthentication can be overridden by using the UnifiedCredentialsOption, allowing the loading of a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code snippet illustrates how to load a service account key file to override default credentials, for demonstrative purposes.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe Authentication Components page provides extra information on the factory functions to make \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.30.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/latest/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.41.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.40.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.39.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.38.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.37.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.36.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.35.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.34.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.33.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.32.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.31.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.30.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.29.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.28.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.27.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.26.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.25.1/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.24.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.23.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.22.1/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.21.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.20.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.19.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.18.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.17.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.16.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.15.1/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.14.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.13.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.12.0/apigateway-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/apigateway/2.11.0/apigateway-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::apigateway_v1::ApiGatewayServiceClient(\n google::cloud::apigateway_v1::MakeApiGatewayServiceConnection(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."]]