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::videointelligence_v1::VideoIntelligenceServiceClient(
google::cloud::videointelligence_v1::
MakeVideoIntelligenceServiceConnection(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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 lists the available versions of the Video Intelligence client library, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate, 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation provides guidance on overriding default authentication credentials using \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, useful for specific scenarios where Application Default Credentials are insufficient.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is provided that demonstrates loading credentials explicitly from a service account key file, which can be easily understood and used.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe content emphasizes that users should refer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for securing authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eMore information on the factory functions to create \u003ca href=\"https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html\"\u003e\u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/a\u003e objects can be found within the "Authentication Components" section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.12.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/latest/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.41.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.40.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.39.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.38.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.37.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.36.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.35.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.34.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.33.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.32.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.31.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.30.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.29.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.28.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.27.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.26.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.25.1/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.24.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.23.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.22.1/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.21.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.20.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.19.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.18.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.17.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.16.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.15.1/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.14.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.13.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.12.0/videointelligence-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/videointelligence/2.11.0/videointelligence-override-authentication) \n\nHow to Override the Authentication Credentials\n==============================================\n\nUnless otherwise configured, the client libraries use [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication#adc) 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](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/structgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1UnifiedCredentialsOption.html) The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file: \n\n [](std::string const& keyfile) {\n auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);\n is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples\n auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator\u003cchar\u003e(is.rdbuf()), {});\n auto options =\n google::cloud::Options{}.set\u003cgoogle::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption\u003e(\n google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));\n return google::cloud::videointelligence_v1::VideoIntelligenceServiceClient(\n google::cloud::videointelligence_v1::\n MakeVideoIntelligenceServiceConnection(options));\n }\n\nKeep in mind that we chose this as an example because it is relatively easy to understand. Consult the [Best practices for managing service account keys](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys) guide for more details.\n\n###### See Also\n\n[Authentication Components](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html) - for more information on the factory functions to create [`google::cloud::Credentials`](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html) objects."]]