Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries use Application Default Credentials 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 The 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 *Client classes:
[[["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 2025-08-14 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis document details how to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) used by Google Cloud client libraries for authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version available is \u003ccode\u003e2.37.0-rc\u003c/code\u003e, and the page includes documentation for versions down to \u003ccode\u003e2.10.1\u003c/code\u003e related to overriding authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAuthentication credentials can be overridden by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for overriding authentication are available for various client classes, such as \u003ccode\u003ekms_inventory_v1::KeyDashboardServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003ekms_v1::KeyManagementServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor best practices on managing service account keys, it's recommended to consult the linked guide from Google Cloud, or follow the link for more information about Authentication Components.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]