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::optimization_v1::FleetRoutingClient(
google::cloud::optimization_v1::MakeFleetRoutingConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 page provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials in Google Cloud C++ client libraries for versions ranging from 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method is Application Default Credentials, but users can override this by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and providing a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe example provided demonstrates how to load a service account key file and utilize it within \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Options\u003c/code\u003e to authenticate.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more detailed information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, refer to the Authentication Components section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe best practices for managing service account keys can be found in the dedicated Google Cloud guide, and are recommended for consideration.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]