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\u003eThe latest release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, and version 2.36.0 is the most recent full release.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eClient libraries generally use Application Default Credentials for Google Cloud service authentication, but you can override this.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAuthentication can be overridden by providing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and loading a service account key file explicitly.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ccode\u003edatastore_admin_v1::DatastoreAdminClient\u003c/code\u003e and the \u003ccode\u003edatastore_v1::DatastoreClient\u003c/code\u003e are examples of clients where these overrides are possible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eConsult the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for details on managing service accounts.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.36.0keyboard_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/2.36.0/datastore_admin_v1_1_1DatastoreAdminClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`datastore_v1::DatastoreClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.36.0/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."]]