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\u003eThe latest release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, while the current stable version is 2.36.0, and there are other listed versions that can be accessed.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe Document AI client libraries use Application Default Credentials for authentication, but you can override this default behavior.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOverriding the default credentials can be done by utilizing the UnifiedCredentialsOption and an example is provided using a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided example on overriding credentials is for demonstrative purposes, and it's recommended to refer to the best practices guide for managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe Authentication Components link provides information on the factory functions to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.36.0keyboard_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."]]