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::vision_v1::ImageAnnotatorClient(
google::cloud::vision_v1::MakeImageAnnotatorConnection(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 details how to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authenticating with Google Cloud Services, which is necessary in certain cases.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest available version is 2.37.0-rc, and there is a list of previous versions including 2.36.0, 2.35.0 and so on, all the way back to version 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override default authentication by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided example code.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for \u003ccode\u003evision_v1::ImageAnnotatorClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003evision_v1::ProductSearchClient\u003c/code\u003e classes are provided via links for further details on using service accounts.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe guide on best practices for managing service account keys is linked for further consultation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.31.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/latest/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.41.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.40.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.39.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.38.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.37.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.36.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.35.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.34.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.33.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.32.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.31.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.30.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.29.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.28.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.27.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.26.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.25.1/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.24.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.23.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.22.1/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.21.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.20.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.19.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.18.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.17.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.16.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.15.1/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.14.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.13.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.12.0/vision-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.11.0/vision-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::vision_v1::ImageAnnotatorClient(\n google::cloud::vision_v1::MakeImageAnnotatorConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`vision_v1::ImageAnnotatorClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.31.0/vision_v1_1_1ImageAnnotatorClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`vision_v1::ProductSearchClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/vision/2.31.0/vision_v1_1_1ProductSearchClient-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."]]