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::tasks_v2::CloudTasksClient(
google::cloud::tasks_v2::MakeCloudTasksConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 version available is 2.37.0-rc, with numerous other versions, from 2.36.0 down to 2.11.0, also accessible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document explains how to override the default Application Default Credentials for authenticating with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAuthentication credentials can be overridden by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document advises consulting the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for further information on handling service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe 'Authentication Components' link is provided for users to learn more about creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]