cloudflare-tunnel

Usage

Basic curl Request

Add two headers to authenticate through Cloudflare Access:

curl -s \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  "https://your-protected-service.example.com/api/endpoint"

With Additional Authentication

Many services require both Cloudflare Access AND their own authentication:

curl -s \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN" \
  "https://your-protected-service.example.com/api/endpoint"

With Basic Auth

curl -s \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -u "username:password" \
  "https://your-protected-service.example.com/api/endpoint"

POST Request with JSON Body

Write to /tmp/request.json:

{
  "key": "value"
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @/tmp/request.json \
  "https://your-protected-service.example.com/api/endpoint"

Download File

curl -s -o /tmp/output.file \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  "https://your-protected-service.example.com/file"

Skip SSL Verification (Self-signed certs)

Add -k flag for services with self-signed certificates:

curl -k -s \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: $CF_ACCESS_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  "https://your-protected-service.example.com/api/endpoint"

Required Headers

Header	Value	Description
CF-Access-Client-Id	<client-id>.access	Service Token Client ID
CF-Access-Client-Secret	<secret>	Service Token Client Secret

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
403 Forbidden	Invalid or missing headers	Check Client ID and Secret
403 Forbidden	Token not in Access policy	Add token to application's Access policy
401 Unauthorized	Service's own auth failed	Check service-specific credentials
Connection refused	Tunnel not running	Verify cloudflared is running

Tips

1. Header order doesn't matter - CF headers can be anywhere in the request
2. Works with any HTTP method - GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.
3. Combine with other auth - CF Access + Basic Auth, Bearer Token, etc.
4. Token rotation - Rotate secrets periodically in Zero Trust dashboard

API Reference

• Cloudflare Access: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/identity/service-tokens/
• Zero Trust Dashboard: https://one.dash.cloudflare.com/