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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 page provides documentation for different versions of the C++ Asset API, ranging from the latest release candidate (2.37.0-rc) down to version 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation focuses on how to override the default authentication credentials, which usually rely on Application Default Credentials, when interacting with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOverriding authentication credentials can be done by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and explicitly loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided C++ code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe example shown in this documentation is easily understandable, but users should still consult the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for more in-depth details.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers looking for more information on \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects can find it under the "Authentication Components" link.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]
