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::redis_v1::CloudRedisClient(
google::cloud::redis_v1::MakeCloudRedisConnection(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 document provides a version history, ranging from version 2.11.0 to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc, for the \u003ccode\u003eredis-override-authentication\u003c/code\u003e documentation in C++.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe client libraries typically use Application Default Credentials for authentication with Google Cloud Services, but this can be overridden when needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default authentication credentials by providing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, such as loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e is demonstrated in an example that creates an \u003ccode\u003eOptions\u003c/code\u003e object and setting the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e with \u003ccode\u003eMakeServiceAccountCredentials\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document refers to the \u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys\"\u003eBest practices for managing service account keys\u003c/a\u003e guide and \u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html\"\u003eAuthentication Components\u003c/a\u003e for more details.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.15.1keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/latest/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.41.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.40.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.39.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.38.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.37.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.36.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.35.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.34.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.33.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.32.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.31.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.30.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.29.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.28.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.27.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.26.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.25.1/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.24.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.23.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.22.1/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.21.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.20.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.19.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.18.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.17.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.16.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.15.1/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.14.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.13.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.12.0/redis-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/redis/2.11.0/redis-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::redis_v1::CloudRedisClient(\n google::cloud::redis_v1::MakeCloudRedisConnection(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."]]