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::commerce_consumer_procurement_v1::
ConsumerProcurementServiceClient(
google::cloud::commerce_consumer_procurement_v1::
MakeConsumerProcurementServiceConnection(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 version 2.36.0 being the current stable release, and multiple previous versions listed down to 2.14.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method for client libraries is Application Default Credentials, but this can be overridden when required for certain applications.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default credentials by providing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, as shown in the example, by explicitly loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIt is recommended to review the best practices for managing service account keys for details on how to better manage them.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe Authentication Components link provides more information on the factory functions to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.36.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/latest/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.41.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.40.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.39.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.38.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.37.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.36.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.35.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.34.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.33.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.32.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.31.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.30.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.29.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.28.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.27.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.26.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.25.1/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.24.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.23.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.22.1/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.21.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.20.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.19.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.18.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.17.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.16.0/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.15.1/commerce-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/commerce/2.14.0/commerce-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::commerce_consumer_procurement_v1::\n ConsumerProcurementServiceClient(\n google::cloud::commerce_consumer_procurement_v1::\n MakeConsumerProcurementServiceConnection(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."]]