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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 provides documentation for various versions of the C++ 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 default authentication method for the client libraries is Application Default Credentials, but users can override this by providing a UnifiedCredentialsOption.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAn example is shown of how to load a service account key file to override the default credentials, with a strong suggestion that users consult the guide for best practices for managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe document links to the Authentication Components page for more information on factory functions to create Credentials objects, and mentions this is for more details on how to create them.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.29.0keyboard_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."]]