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::networkconnectivity_v1::HubServiceClient(
google::cloud::networkconnectivity_v1::MakeHubServiceConnection(
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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 details how to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC) for authenticating with Google Cloud Services when using the C++ client libraries.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest available version is 2.37.0-rc, and a comprehensive list of previous versions, from 2.36.0 down to 2.11.0, is provided for accessing version-specific documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOverriding default credentials involves providing a \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, as demonstrated by loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExamples for overriding authentication with service account keys are available for \u003ccode\u003enetworkconnectivity_v1::HubServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003enetworkconnectivity_v1::PolicyBasedRoutingServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor further details on managing service account keys, please refer to the specified guide and for information on creating credentials objects, consult the Authentication Components section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]