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::gkemulticloud_v1::AttachedClustersClient(
google::cloud::gkemulticloud_v1::MakeAttachedClustersConnection(
"us-west1" /* regional service region */, options));
}
Follow these links to find examples for other *Client classes:
[[["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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 page provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud client libraries, specifically focusing on GKE Multi-Cloud services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, while version 2.11.0 is presented in the examples to showcase how to override authentication credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method utilizes Application Default Credentials, but the documentation details how to override this with a service account key file using \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples are provided for \u003ccode\u003eAttachedClustersClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eAwsClustersClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eAzureClustersClient\u003c/code\u003e classes within the \u003ccode\u003egkemulticloud_v1\u003c/code\u003e namespace, demonstrating the override authentication process.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided content emphasizes understanding and utilizing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and to consult Google Cloud documentation for best practices in managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.11.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/latest/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.41.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.40.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.39.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.38.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.37.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.36.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.35.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.34.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.33.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.32.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.31.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.30.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.29.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.28.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.27.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.26.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.25.1/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.24.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.23.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.22.1/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.21.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.20.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.19.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.18.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.17.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.16.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.15.1/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.14.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.13.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.12.0/gkemulticloud-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.11.0/gkemulticloud-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::gkemulticloud_v1::AttachedClustersClient(\n google::cloud::gkemulticloud_v1::MakeAttachedClustersConnection(\n \"us-west1\" /* regional service region */, options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`gkemulticloud_v1::AttachedClustersClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.11.0/gkemulticloud_v1_1_1AttachedClustersClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`gkemulticloud_v1::AwsClustersClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.11.0/gkemulticloud_v1_1_1AwsClustersClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`gkemulticloud_v1::AzureClustersClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.11.0/gkemulticloud_v1_1_1AzureClustersClient-service-account-snippet)\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."]]