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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 within the context of the \u003ccode\u003egkemulticloud\u003c/code\u003e service.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, and the page lists several previous versions, going back to version 2.11.0, each linked to its respective documentation page.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) by utilizing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and providing a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples of overriding the default credentials for the \u003ccode\u003eAttachedClustersClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eAwsClustersClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eAzureClustersClient\u003c/code\u003e classes are available via the provided links.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFurther details on credential creation using factory functions can be found in the "Authentication Components" documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.15.1keyboard_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/2.15.1/gkemulticloud_v1_1_1AttachedClustersClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`gkemulticloud_v1::AwsClustersClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.15.1/gkemulticloud_v1_1_1AwsClustersClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`gkemulticloud_v1::AzureClustersClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/gkemulticloud/2.15.1/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."]]