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::migrationcenter_v1::MigrationCenterClient(
google::cloud::migrationcenter_v1::MakeMigrationCenterConnection(
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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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\u003eThe latest release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, and the content details documentation and links for versions ranging from 2.13.0 up to 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBy default, client libraries utilize Application Default Credentials for authentication with Google Cloud Services, but there are cases where overriding is necessary.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUsers can override the default authentication by utilizing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, allowing them to provide custom authentication credentials, such as loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe example illustrates the use of \u003ccode\u003eMakeServiceAccountCredentials\u003c/code\u003e to use a service account key file for authentication, however, users should refer to best practices for service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]