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::batch_v1::BatchServiceClient(
google::cloud::batch_v1::MakeBatchServiceConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 batch override authentication, detailing various versions from 2.11.0 to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe client libraries primarily utilize Application Default Credentials for authenticating with Google Cloud Services, but this default can be overridden.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override the default authentication by providing the UnifiedCredentialsOption, such as explicitly loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document highlights a simple method for overriding authentication as an example and advises consulting best practices for service account key management.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAdditional details on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects can be found in the Authentication Components section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]