Configuration

The library looks for a configuration file in System.getProperty("user.home") + "/ads.properties". You can override this path and file name at runtime when constructing the GoogleAdsClient using either of the following mechanisms:

  • Call fromPropertiesFile(PATH_TO_CONFIG_FILE), where PATH_TO_CONFIG_FILE is the path and file name of your configuration file.
  • Set the environment variable GOOGLE_ADS_CONFIGURATION_FILE_PATH to the path and file name of your configuration file, and then call fromPropertiesFile().

The format of the configuration file is that of a Java Properties file of key value pairs. The supported keys vary depending on the chosen authentication flow.

Supported keys for desktop and web application flows

If you are using the desktop or web application flow, the supported keys are as follows:

# Credential for accessing Google's OAuth servers.
# Provided by console.cloud.google.com.
api.googleads.clientId=INSERT_CLIENT_ID_HERE

# Credential for accessing Google's OAuth servers.
# Provided by console.cloud.google.com.
api.googleads.clientSecret=INSERT_CLIENT_SECRET_HERE

# Renewable OAuth credential associated with 1 or more Google Ads accounts.
api.googleads.refreshToken=INSERT_REFRESH_TOKEN_HERE

# Token which provides access to the Google Ads API in general. It does not
# grant access to any particular ad account (OAuth is used for this purpose).
api.googleads.developerToken=INSERT_DEVELOPER_TOKEN_HERE

# Required for manager accounts only: Specify the login customer ID used to
# authenticate API calls. This will be the customer ID of the authenticated
# manager account. You can also specify this later in code if your application
# uses multiple manager account + OAuth pairs.
#
# api.googleads.loginCustomerId=INSERT_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID_HERE

# Only required if explicitly instructed by the service documentation.
# api.googleads.linkedCustomerId=INSERT_LINKED_CUSTOMER_ID_HERE

Supported keys for service accounts

If you are using the service account flow, the supported keys are as follows:

# Path to the service account secrets file in JSON format.
# Provided by console.cloud.google.com.
api.googleads.serviceAccountSecretsPath=INSERT_PATH_TO_JSON_HERE

# Email address of the user to impersonate.
# This should be a user who has access to your Google Ads account and is in the same
# Google Apps Domain as the service account.
api.googleads.serviceAccountUser=INSERT_USER_EMAIL_ADDRESS_HERE

# Token which provides access to the Google Ads API in general. It does not
# grant access to any particular ad account (OAuth is used for this purpose).
api.googleads.developerToken=INSERT_DEVELOPER_TOKEN_HERE

# Required for manager accounts only: Specify the login customer ID used to
# authenticate API calls. This will be the customer ID of the authenticated
# manager account. You can also specify this later in code if your application
# uses multiple manager account + OAuth pairs.
#
# api.googleads.loginCustomerId=INSERT_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID_HERE

Using environment variables

The library supports all of the environment variables common to all Google Ads API client libraries. The table below shows the environment variable that corresponds to each configuration file property.

Configuration file property Environment variable
api.googleads.developerToken GOOGLE_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN
api.googleads.clientId GOOGLE_ADS_CLIENT_ID
api.googleads.clientSecret GOOGLE_ADS_CLIENT_SECRET
api.googleads.refreshToken GOOGLE_ADS_REFRESH_TOKEN
api.googleads.serviceAccountSecretsPath GOOGLE_ADS_JSON_KEY_FILE_PATH
api.googleads.serviceAccountUser GOOGLE_ADS_IMPERSONATED_EMAIL
api.googleads.loginCustomerId GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID
api.googleads.linkedCustomerId GOOGLE_ADS_LINKED_CUSTOMER_ID

Once you have set the appropriate environment variables, configure your GoogleAdsClient by calling fromEnvironment() on the builder.

GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient = GoogleAdsClient.newBuilder()
  .fromEnvironment()
  .build();

Combining configuration approaches

The GoogleAdsClient and its builder support combining different configuration strategies. For example, you can use environment variables to configure the credentials of the instance and a properties file for other attributes using the following snippet.

GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient = GoogleAdsClient.newBuilder()
    .fromEnvironment()
    .fromPropertiesFile()
    .build();

In this example, the client library will use the value from the properties file for any attribute that is defined both through its environment variable and an entry in the properties file. For the opposite behavior, simply call fromPropertiesFile() before fromEnvironment().

You can make further changes at runtime using the builder's other configuration methods before calling build().