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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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\u003eThe webpage provides documentation for various versions of the C++ client library, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the release candidate 2.37.0-rc, with the current version highlighted as 2.35.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe client libraries generally use Application Default Credentials (ADC) for Google Cloud Services authentication, but this can be overridden if required.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override the default authentication by providing the UnifiedCredentialsOption and loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIt's recommended to review the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for detailed information on managing service account keys securely.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor further information about the functions used to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, refer to the "Authentication Components" section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]
