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 client libraries default to using Application Default Credentials for Google Cloud Services authentication, but this can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override default credentials by providing a \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, for example, by loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided example demonstrates overriding credentials by loading a service account key file and creating an options instance.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for other client classes like \u003ccode\u003edatastore_admin_v1::DatastoreAdminClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003edatastore_v1::DatastoreClient\u003c/code\u003e are also available.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eRefer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide and the "Authentication Components" section for detailed information on managing credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.31.0keyboard_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/2.31.0/datastore_admin_v1_1_1DatastoreAdminClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`datastore_v1::DatastoreClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/datastore/2.31.0/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."]]