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::domains_v1::DomainsClient(
google::cloud::domains_v1::MakeDomainsConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-07-02 UTC."],[[["This page provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud client libraries, with version-specific information ranging from 2.12.0 to 2.37.0-rc."],["Google Cloud client libraries typically use Application Default Credentials for authentication, but users can override this by utilizing the `UnifiedCredentialsOption`."],["The provided example demonstrates overriding credentials by explicitly loading a service account key file and employing the `MakeServiceAccountCredentials` method, which is for demonstrative purposes and has minimal error handling."],["Users are directed to the \"Best practices for managing service account keys\" guide for comprehensive information regarding service account key management."],["Further details on the creation of `google::cloud::Credentials` objects can be found in the \"Authentication Components\" section of the documentation."]]],[]]