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::websecurityscanner_v1::WebSecurityScannerClient(
google::cloud::websecurityscanner_v1::MakeWebSecurityScannerConnection(
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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14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 webpage provides documentation for various versions of the Web Security Scanner, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the latest release candidate, 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation outlines how to override default authentication credentials using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e to authenticate with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe example demonstrates loading a service account key file to create \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e that will use the service account, which can replace Application Default Credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIt is recommended to refer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for additional details on security protocols.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe "Authentication Components" documentation provides further information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects for authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]
