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::memcache_v1::CloudMemcacheClient(
google::cloud::memcache_v1::MakeCloudMemcacheConnection(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\u003eThis page provides documentation for various versions of the C++ client library for Google Cloud Memcache, ranging from version 2.11.0 to the release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest stable release is version 2.23.0, but the most recent release candidate version available for review is 2.37.0-rc, with the full list of versions containing links to specific versions documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation provides information on how to override the default authentication credentials using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, which allows users to provide specific credentials instead of relying on Application Default Credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is given on how to load credentials from a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThere is a linked guide with best practices for managing service accounts, and another link to additional information on authentication components.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.23.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/latest/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.41.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.40.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.39.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.38.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.37.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.36.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.35.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.34.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.33.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.32.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.31.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.30.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.29.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.28.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.27.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.26.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.25.1/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.24.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.23.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.22.1/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.21.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.20.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.19.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.18.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.17.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.16.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.15.1/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.14.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.13.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.12.0/memcache-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/memcache/2.11.0/memcache-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::memcache_v1::CloudMemcacheClient(\n google::cloud::memcache_v1::MakeCloudMemcacheConnection(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."]]