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::asset_v1::AssetServiceClient(
google::cloud::asset_v1::MakeAssetServiceConnection(options));
}
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis document provides a reference for asset override authentication in various versions, ranging from 2.11.0 to the latest release candidate, 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBy default, client libraries use Application Default Credentials for Google Cloud Services, but this can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo override the default authentication, you can use the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, as shown in the example code using a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, consult the Authentication Components documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document is giving information on how to set up asset authentication, with a link to the best practices guide for managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]
