diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/MutableCredentials.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/MutableCredentials.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..013805671c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/MutableCredentials.java
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.google.cloud.spanner;
+
+import com.google.auth.CredentialTypeForMetrics;
+import com.google.auth.Credentials;
+import com.google.auth.RequestMetadataCallback;
+import com.google.auth.oauth2.ServiceAccountCredentials;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
+import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
+
+/**
+ * A mutable {@link Credentials} implementation that delegates authentication behavior to a scoped
+ * {@link ServiceAccountCredentials} instance.
+ *
+ *
This class is intended for scenarios where an application needs to replace the underlying
+ * service account credentials for a long-running Spanner Client.
+ *
+ *
All operations inherited from {@link Credentials} are forwarded to the current delegate,
+ * including request metadata retrieval and token refresh. Calling {@link
+ * #updateCredentials(ServiceAccountCredentials)} replaces the delegate with a newly scoped
+ * credentials instance created from the same scopes that were provided when this object was
+ * constructed.
+ */
+public class MutableCredentials extends Credentials {
+ private volatile ServiceAccountCredentials delegate;
+ private final Set scopes;
+
+ /** Creates a MutableCredentials instance with default spanner scopes. */
+ public MutableCredentials(ServiceAccountCredentials credentials) {
+ this(credentials, SpannerOptions.SCOPES);
+ }
+
+ public MutableCredentials(ServiceAccountCredentials credentials, @Nonnull Set scopes) {
+ if (scopes.isEmpty()) {
+ throw new IllegalArgumentException("Scopes must not be empty");
+ }
+ this.scopes = new java.util.HashSet<>(scopes);
+ delegate = (ServiceAccountCredentials) credentials.createScoped(this.scopes);
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Replaces the current delegate with a newly scoped credentials instance.
+ *
+ * The provided {@link ServiceAccountCredentials} is scoped using the same scopes that were
+ * supplied when this {@link MutableCredentials} instance was created.
+ *
+ * @param credentials the new base service account credentials to scope and use for client
+ * authorization.
+ */
+ public void updateCredentials(ServiceAccountCredentials credentials) {
+ delegate = (ServiceAccountCredentials) credentials.createScoped(scopes);
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public String getAuthenticationType() {
+ return delegate.getAuthenticationType();
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public Map> getRequestMetadata(URI uri) throws IOException {
+ return delegate.getRequestMetadata(uri);
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public boolean hasRequestMetadata() {
+ return delegate.hasRequestMetadata();
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public boolean hasRequestMetadataOnly() {
+ return delegate.hasRequestMetadataOnly();
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public void refresh() throws IOException {
+ delegate.refresh();
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public void getRequestMetadata(URI uri, Executor executor, RequestMetadataCallback callback) {
+ delegate.getRequestMetadata(uri, executor, callback);
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public String getUniverseDomain() throws IOException {
+ return delegate.getUniverseDomain();
+ }
+
+ @Override
+ public CredentialTypeForMetrics getMetricsCredentialType() {
+ return delegate.getMetricsCredentialType();
+ }
+}
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java
index 9eea86ab59..1672744187 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ public class SpannerOptions extends ServiceOptions {
private static final String GOOGLE_DEFAULT_UNIVERSE = "googleapis.com";
private static final String EXPERIMENTAL_HOST_PROJECT_ID = "default";
- private static final ImmutableSet SCOPES =
+ static final ImmutableSet SCOPES =
ImmutableSet.of(
"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spanner.admin",
"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spanner.data");
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/MutableCredentialsTest.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/MutableCredentialsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2082d56b4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/MutableCredentialsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.cloud.spanner;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertSame;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+import com.google.auth.CredentialTypeForMetrics;
+import com.google.auth.RequestMetadataCallback;
+import com.google.auth.oauth2.ServiceAccountCredentials;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
+
+@RunWith(JUnit4.class)
+public class MutableCredentialsTest {
+ ServiceAccountCredentials initialCredentials = mock(ServiceAccountCredentials.class);
+ ServiceAccountCredentials initialScopedCredentials = mock(ServiceAccountCredentials.class);
+ ServiceAccountCredentials updatedCredentials = mock(ServiceAccountCredentials.class);
+ ServiceAccountCredentials updatedScopedCredentials = mock(ServiceAccountCredentials.class);
+ Set scopes = new HashSet<>(Arrays.asList("scope-a", "scope-b"));
+ Map> initialMetadata =
+ Collections.singletonMap("Authorization", Collections.singletonList("v1"));
+ Map> updatedMetadata =
+ Collections.singletonMap("Authorization", Collections.singletonList("v2"));
+ String initialAuthType = "auth-1";
+ String updatedAuthType = "auth-2";
+ String initialUniverseDomain = "googleapis.com";
+ String updatedUniverseDomain = "abc.goog";
+ CredentialTypeForMetrics initialMetricsCredentialType =
+ CredentialTypeForMetrics.SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS_JWT;
+ CredentialTypeForMetrics updatedMetricsCredentialType =
+ CredentialTypeForMetrics.SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS_AT;
+
+ @Test
+ public void testCreateMutableCredentials() throws IOException {
+ setupInitialCredentials();
+
+ MutableCredentials credentials = new MutableCredentials(initialCredentials, scopes);
+ URI testUri = URI.create("https://spanner.googleapis.com");
+ Executor executor = mock(Executor.class);
+ RequestMetadataCallback callback = mock(RequestMetadataCallback.class);
+
+ validateInitialDelegatedCredentialsAreSet(credentials, testUri);
+
+ credentials.getRequestMetadata(testUri, executor, callback);
+
+ credentials.refresh();
+
+ verify(initialScopedCredentials, times(1)).getRequestMetadata(testUri, executor, callback);
+ verify(initialScopedCredentials, times(1)).refresh();
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ public void testCreateMutableCredentialsWithDefaultScopes() throws IOException {
+ Set defaultScopes = SpannerOptions.SCOPES;
+ when(initialCredentials.createScoped(defaultScopes)).thenReturn(initialScopedCredentials);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getAuthenticationType()).thenReturn(initialAuthType);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getRequestMetadata(any(URI.class))).thenReturn(initialMetadata);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getUniverseDomain()).thenReturn(initialUniverseDomain);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getMetricsCredentialType())
+ .thenReturn(initialMetricsCredentialType);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.hasRequestMetadata()).thenReturn(true);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.hasRequestMetadataOnly()).thenReturn(true);
+
+ MutableCredentials credentials = new MutableCredentials(initialCredentials);
+ URI testUri = URI.create("https://spanner.googleapis.com");
+
+ validateInitialDelegatedCredentialsAreSet(credentials, testUri);
+ verify(initialCredentials).createScoped(defaultScopes);
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ public void testUpdateMutableCredentials() throws IOException {
+ setupInitialCredentials();
+ setupUpdatedCredentials();
+
+ MutableCredentials credentials = new MutableCredentials(initialCredentials, scopes);
+ URI testUri = URI.create("https://example.com");
+ Executor executor = mock(Executor.class);
+ RequestMetadataCallback callback = mock(RequestMetadataCallback.class);
+
+ validateInitialDelegatedCredentialsAreSet(credentials, testUri);
+
+ credentials.updateCredentials(updatedCredentials);
+
+ assertEquals(updatedAuthType, credentials.getAuthenticationType());
+ assertFalse(credentials.hasRequestMetadata());
+ assertFalse(credentials.hasRequestMetadataOnly());
+ assertSame(updatedMetadata, credentials.getRequestMetadata(testUri));
+ assertEquals(updatedUniverseDomain, credentials.getUniverseDomain());
+ assertEquals(updatedMetricsCredentialType, credentials.getMetricsCredentialType());
+
+ credentials.getRequestMetadata(testUri, executor, callback);
+
+ credentials.refresh();
+
+ verify(updatedScopedCredentials, times(1)).getRequestMetadata(testUri, executor, callback);
+ verify(updatedScopedCredentials, times(1)).refresh();
+ }
+
+ @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+ public void testCreateMutableCredentialsEmptyScopesThrowsError() {
+ new MutableCredentials(initialCredentials, Collections.emptySet());
+ }
+
+ private void validateInitialDelegatedCredentialsAreSet(
+ MutableCredentials credentials, URI testUri) throws IOException {
+ assertEquals(initialAuthType, credentials.getAuthenticationType());
+ assertTrue(credentials.hasRequestMetadata());
+ assertTrue(credentials.hasRequestMetadataOnly());
+ assertEquals(initialMetadata, credentials.getRequestMetadata(testUri));
+ assertEquals(initialUniverseDomain, credentials.getUniverseDomain());
+ assertEquals(initialMetricsCredentialType, credentials.getMetricsCredentialType());
+ }
+
+ private void setupInitialCredentials() throws IOException {
+ when(initialCredentials.createScoped(scopes)).thenReturn(initialScopedCredentials);
+ when(initialCredentials.createScoped(Collections.emptyList()))
+ .thenReturn(initialScopedCredentials);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getAuthenticationType()).thenReturn(initialAuthType);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getRequestMetadata(any(URI.class))).thenReturn(initialMetadata);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getUniverseDomain()).thenReturn(initialUniverseDomain);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.getMetricsCredentialType())
+ .thenReturn(initialMetricsCredentialType);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.hasRequestMetadata()).thenReturn(true);
+ when(initialScopedCredentials.hasRequestMetadataOnly()).thenReturn(true);
+ }
+
+ private void setupUpdatedCredentials() throws IOException {
+ when(updatedCredentials.createScoped(scopes)).thenReturn(updatedScopedCredentials);
+ when(updatedScopedCredentials.getAuthenticationType()).thenReturn(updatedAuthType);
+ when(updatedScopedCredentials.getRequestMetadata(any(URI.class))).thenReturn(updatedMetadata);
+ when(updatedScopedCredentials.getUniverseDomain()).thenReturn(updatedUniverseDomain);
+ when(updatedScopedCredentials.getMetricsCredentialType())
+ .thenReturn(updatedMetricsCredentialType);
+ when(updatedScopedCredentials.hasRequestMetadata()).thenReturn(false);
+ when(updatedScopedCredentials.hasRequestMetadataOnly()).thenReturn(false);
+ }
+}
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITMutableCredentialsTest.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITMutableCredentialsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..469401f09c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITMutableCredentialsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.cloud.spanner.it;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.junit.Assume.assumeTrue;
+
+import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials;
+import com.google.auth.oauth2.ServiceAccountCredentials;
+import com.google.cloud.spanner.MutableCredentials;
+import com.google.cloud.spanner.SerialIntegrationTest;
+import com.google.cloud.spanner.Spanner;
+import com.google.cloud.spanner.SpannerOptions;
+import com.google.cloud.spanner.admin.instance.v1.InstanceAdminClient;
+import com.google.spanner.admin.instance.v1.ProjectName;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
+
+@Category(SerialIntegrationTest.class)
+@RunWith(JUnit4.class)
+public class ITMutableCredentialsTest {
+
+ private static final String INVALID_CERT_PATH =
+ "/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/test-key.json";
+
+ @Test
+ public void testMutableCredentialsUpdateAuthorizationForRunningClient() throws IOException {
+ GoogleCredentials validCredentials = null;
+
+ // accept cert path overridden by environment variable for local testing
+ if (System.getenv("GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS") != null) {
+ try (InputStream stream =
+ Files.newInputStream(Paths.get(System.getenv("GOOGLE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS")))) {
+ validCredentials = GoogleCredentials.fromStream(stream);
+ }
+ } else {
+ try {
+ validCredentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault();
+ } catch (IOException e) {
+ }
+ }
+
+ // credentials must be ServiceAccountCredentials
+ assumeTrue(validCredentials instanceof ServiceAccountCredentials);
+
+ ServiceAccountCredentials invalidCredentials;
+ try (InputStream stream =
+ ITMutableCredentialsTest.class.getResourceAsStream(INVALID_CERT_PATH)) {
+ invalidCredentials = ServiceAccountCredentials.fromStream(stream);
+ }
+
+ // create MutableCredentials first with valid credentials
+ MutableCredentials mutableCredentials =
+ new MutableCredentials((ServiceAccountCredentials) validCredentials);
+
+ SpannerOptions options =
+ SpannerOptions.newBuilder()
+ // this setting is required in the scenario SPANNER_EMULATOR_HOST is set otherwise
+ // SpannerOptions overrides credentials to NoCredentials
+ .setEmulatorHost(null)
+ .setCredentials(mutableCredentials)
+ .build();
+
+ ProjectName projectName = ProjectName.of(options.getProjectId());
+ try (Spanner spanner = options.getService();
+ InstanceAdminClient instanceAdminClient = spanner.createInstanceAdminClient()) {
+ instanceAdminClient.listInstances(projectName);
+
+ // update mutableCredentials now to use an invalid credentials
+ mutableCredentials.updateCredentials(invalidCredentials);
+
+ try {
+ // this call should now fail with new invalid credentials
+ instanceAdminClient.listInstances(projectName);
+ fail("Expected UNAUTHENTICATED after switching to invalid credentials");
+ } catch (Exception e) {
+ assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("UNAUTHENTICATED"));
+ }
+ }
+ }
+}