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::pubsublite::AdminServiceClient(
google::cloud::pubsublite::MakeAdminServiceConnection(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 latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, with numerous previous versions from 2.36.0 down to 2.11.0 also available for reference.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eClient libraries typically use Application Default Credentials for authentication, but you can override this with UnifiedCredentialsOption.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOverriding default credentials can be done by explicitly loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eSpecific examples are available for \u003ccode\u003epubsublite::AdminServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003epubsublite::TopicStatsServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e to demonstrate the authentication override.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor details and best practice for managing service account keys, you can refer to the linked guide and for factory function details for \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects you can refer to the linked Authentication Components page.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.35.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/latest/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.41.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.40.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.39.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.38.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.37.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.36.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.35.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.34.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.33.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.32.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.31.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.30.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.29.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.28.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.27.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.26.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.25.1/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.24.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.23.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.22.1/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.21.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.20.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.19.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.18.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.17.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.16.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.15.1/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.14.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.13.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.12.0/pubsublite-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.11.0/pubsublite-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::pubsublite::AdminServiceClient(\n google::cloud::pubsublite::MakeAdminServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`pubsublite::AdminServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.35.0/pubsublite_1_1AdminServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`pubsublite::TopicStatsServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/pubsublite/2.35.0/pubsublite_1_1TopicStatsServiceClient-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."]]