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::tpu_v1::TpuClient(
google::cloud::tpu_v1::MakeTpuConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 focusing on TPU client examples.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest release candidate version available is 2.37.0-rc, and the content lists all the available versions from 2.37.0-rc down to 2.11.0.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e can be used to override the default Application Default Credentials (ADC), with an example showing how to load a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eLinks to examples for \u003ccode\u003etpu_v1::TpuClient\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003etpu_v2::TpuClient\u003c/code\u003e are provided, showcasing how to apply service account authentication for each client.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe page suggests consulting the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for further details on managing service account keys, in addition to a link for more information on Authentication Components.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]