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::speech_v1::AdaptationClient(
google::cloud::speech_v1::MakeAdaptationConnection(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 page details how to override default authentication credentials for Google Cloud Services, which typically rely on Application Default Credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release for the C++ library is version 2.37.0-rc, while the current documentation version is 2.17.0, and it lists many previous versions.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default credentials by providing a \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, demonstrated here by loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code example illustrates how to explicitly load a service account key file and apply it to a client, such as \u003ccode\u003eAdaptationClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThere are links provided to examples for other client classes such as \u003ccode\u003espeech_v1::SpeechClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003espeech_v2::SpeechClient\u003c/code\u003e, as well as to further documentation on authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.17.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/latest/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.41.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.40.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.39.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.38.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.37.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.36.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.35.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.34.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.33.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.32.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.31.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.30.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.29.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.28.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.27.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.26.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.25.1/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.24.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.23.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.22.1/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.21.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.20.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.19.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.18.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.17.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.16.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.15.1/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.14.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.13.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.12.0/speech-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.11.0/speech-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::speech_v1::AdaptationClient(\n google::cloud::speech_v1::MakeAdaptationConnection(options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`speech_v1::AdaptationClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.17.0/speech_v1_1_1AdaptationClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`speech_v1::SpeechClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.17.0/speech_v1_1_1SpeechClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`speech_v2::SpeechClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/speech/2.17.0/speech_v2_1_1SpeechClient-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."]]