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::datastore_admin_v1::DatastoreAdminClient(
google::cloud::datastore_admin_v1::MakeDatastoreAdminConnection(
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\u003eThis page lists the available versions of the C++ client library for Google Cloud Datastore, ranging from version 2.15.1 up to the release candidate 2.37.0-rc, and the currently selected version is 2.24.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe client libraries typically use Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authentication, but this can be overridden if necessary.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo override the default credentials, you can provide the UnifiedCredentialsOption, with an example showing how to load a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for other \u003ccode\u003e*Client\u003c/code\u003e classes, specifically \u003ccode\u003edatastore_admin_v1::DatastoreAdminClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003edatastore_v1::DatastoreClient\u003c/code\u003e, are provided for overriding credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor further information, you can refer to the best practices guide for managing service account keys and the Authentication Components section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.24.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/latest/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.41.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.40.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.39.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.38.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.37.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.36.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.35.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.34.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.33.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.32.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.31.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.30.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.29.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.28.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.27.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.26.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.25.1/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.24.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.23.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.22.1/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.21.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.20.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.19.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.18.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.17.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.16.0/datastore-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.15.1/datastore-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::datastore_admin_v1::DatastoreAdminClient(\n google::cloud::datastore_admin_v1::MakeDatastoreAdminConnection(\n options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`datastore_admin_v1::DatastoreAdminClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.24.0/datastore_admin_v1_1_1DatastoreAdminClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`datastore_v1::DatastoreClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.24.0/datastore_v1_1_1DatastoreClient-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."]]