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::confidentialcomputing_v1::ConfidentialComputingClient(
google::cloud::confidentialcomputing_v1::
MakeConfidentialComputingConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 webpage provides a comprehensive list of C++ library versions for confidential computing, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate, 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method for client libraries is Application Default Credentials, but there's an option to override this behavior.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOverriding the default authentication is achievable by providing a UnifiedCredentialsOption, allowing the explicit loading of a service account key file, which is demonstrated in a code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more details on creating Credentials objects, the Authentication Components documentation is linked.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eService account key management is important and there is a link to a best practices guide in the provided content.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]