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::cloudquotas_v1::CloudQuotasClient(
google::cloud::cloudquotas_v1::MakeCloudQuotasConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 multiple previous versions from 2.36.0 down to 2.20.0 also being accessible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document provides guidance on overriding the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) used by client libraries for Google Cloud Services authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default credentials by setting the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, which can be implemented by loading a service account key file as shown in the example code.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document recommends consulting the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for more detailed information on security.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe "Authentication Components" section provides additional information regarding the creation of \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.21.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/latest/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.41.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.40.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.39.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.38.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.37.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.36.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.35.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.34.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.33.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.32.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.31.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.30.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.29.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.28.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.27.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.26.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.25.1/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.24.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.23.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.22.1/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.21.0/cloudquotas-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/cloudquotas/2.20.0/cloudquotas-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::cloudquotas_v1::CloudQuotasClient(\n google::cloud::cloudquotas_v1::MakeCloudQuotasConnection(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."]]