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::kms_inventory_v1::KeyDashboardServiceClient(
google::cloud::kms_inventory_v1::MakeKeyDashboardServiceConnection(
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 document provides information on how to override the default authentication credentials used by client libraries to interact with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method is the Application Default Credentials, but this can be overridden using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is provided that demonstrates how to load a service account key file to authenticate.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for other client classes like \u003ccode\u003ekms_inventory_v1::KeyDashboardServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003ekms_inventory_v1::KeyTrackingServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003ekms_v1::EkmServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003ekms_v1::KeyManagementServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e are available via links.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThere are multiple versions of the documentation, with 2.37.0-rc being the latest release candidate, and going as far back as version 2.10.1.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.19.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/latest/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.41.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.40.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.39.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.38.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.37.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.36.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.35.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.34.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.33.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.32.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.31.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.30.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.29.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.28.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.27.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.26.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.25.1/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.24.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.23.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.22.1/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.21.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.20.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.19.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.18.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.17.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.16.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.15.1/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.14.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.13.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.12.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.11.0/kms-override-authentication)\n- [2.10.1](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.10.1/kms-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::kms_inventory_v1::KeyDashboardServiceClient(\n google::cloud::kms_inventory_v1::MakeKeyDashboardServiceConnection(\n options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`kms_inventory_v1::KeyDashboardServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.19.0/kms_inventory_v1_1_1KeyDashboardServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`kms_inventory_v1::KeyTrackingServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.19.0/kms_inventory_v1_1_1KeyTrackingServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`kms_v1::EkmServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.19.0/kms_v1_1_1EkmServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`kms_v1::KeyManagementServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/kms/2.19.0/kms_v1_1_1KeyManagementServiceClient-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."]]