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::tasks_v2::CloudTasksClient(
google::cloud::tasks_v2::MakeCloudTasksConnection(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 webpage provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials in the context of Google Cloud C++ client libraries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version available for the documentation is version 2.37.0-rc, with a full range of versions available down to 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override the default authentication using \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, as demonstrated in the provided C++ example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe best practices guide for managing service account keys should be consulted for a secure implementation, and there is also a link for more information on authentication components.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.36.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/latest/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.41.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.40.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.39.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.38.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.37.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.36.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.35.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.34.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.33.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.32.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.31.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.30.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.29.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.28.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.27.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.26.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.25.1/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.24.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.23.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.22.1/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.21.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.20.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.19.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.18.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.17.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.16.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.15.1/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.14.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.13.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.12.0/tasks-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/tasks/2.11.0/tasks-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::tasks_v2::CloudTasksClient(\n google::cloud::tasks_v2::MakeCloudTasksConnection(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."]]