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::edgecontainer_v1::EdgeContainerClient(
google::cloud::edgecontainer_v1::MakeEdgeContainerConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 documentation for various versions of the \u003ccode\u003eedgecontainer\u003c/code\u003e feature, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe primary focus of the content is on how to override default authentication credentials when interacting with Google Cloud Services using the C++ client libraries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can use the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e to provide custom credentials, such as loading a service account key file as demonstrated in the example code.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation emphasizes that while the example demonstrates loading credentials from a key file, users should consult Google Cloud's guide on managing service account keys for best practices.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAdditional details on authentication components and creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects can be found in the provided "Authentication Components" documentation link.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]
