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::assuredworkloads_v1::AssuredWorkloadsServiceClient(
google::cloud::assuredworkloads_v1::
MakeAssuredWorkloadsServiceConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, with a variety of other versions ranging from 2.36.0 down to 2.11.0 also available.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBy default, client libraries use Application Default Credentials for Google Cloud Service authentication, but this can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default authentication by utilizing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, for example, by loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code snippet illustrates how to explicitly load a service account key file for authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe "Authentication Components" documentation provides further details on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.20.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/latest/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.41.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.40.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.39.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.38.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.37.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.36.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.35.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.34.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.33.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.32.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.31.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.30.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.29.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.28.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.27.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.26.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.25.1/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.24.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.23.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.22.1/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.21.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.20.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.19.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.18.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.17.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.16.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.15.1/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.14.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.13.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.12.0/assuredworkloads-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/assuredworkloads/2.11.0/assuredworkloads-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::assuredworkloads_v1::AssuredWorkloadsServiceClient(\n google::cloud::assuredworkloads_v1::\n MakeAssuredWorkloadsServiceConnection(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."]]