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::trace_v1::TraceServiceClient(
google::cloud::trace_v1::MakeTraceServiceConnection(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 provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud C++ client libraries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, with a range of past versions from 2.36.0 down to 2.11.0 also accessible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default Application Default Credentials by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and explicitly loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for using service account credentials can be found for \u003ccode\u003etrace_v1::TraceServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003etrace_v2::TraceServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor detailed information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects and the management of service account keys, refer to the "Authentication Components" and "Best practices for managing service account keys" guides, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.33.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/latest/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.41.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.40.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.39.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.38.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.37.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.36.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.35.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.34.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.33.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.32.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.31.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.30.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.29.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.28.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.27.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.26.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.25.1/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.24.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.23.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.22.1/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.21.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.20.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.19.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.18.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.17.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.16.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.15.1/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.14.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.13.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.12.0/trace-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.11.0/trace-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::trace_v1::TraceServiceClient(\n google::cloud::trace_v1::MakeTraceServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`trace_v1::TraceServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.33.0/trace_v1_1_1TraceServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`trace_v2::TraceServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/trace/2.33.0/trace_v2_1_1TraceServiceClient-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."]]