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::documentai_v1::DocumentProcessorServiceClient(
google::cloud::documentai_v1::MakeDocumentProcessorServiceConnection(
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 webpage provides documentation for various versions of the Document AI C++ client library, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method for the client libraries is Application Default Credentials, but users can override this by providing a UnifiedCredentialsOption.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override authentication by explicitly loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided example code.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation also contains information on authentication components, and a link to the best practices guide for managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.23.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/latest/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.41.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.40.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.39.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.38.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.37.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.36.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.35.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.34.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.33.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.32.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.31.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.30.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.29.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.28.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.27.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.26.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.25.1/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.24.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.23.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.22.1/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.21.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.20.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.19.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.18.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.17.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.16.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.15.1/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.14.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.13.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.12.0/documentai-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/documentai/2.11.0/documentai-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::documentai_v1::DocumentProcessorServiceClient(\n google::cloud::documentai_v1::MakeDocumentProcessorServiceConnection(\n 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."]]