Run as a service

Cloudflare Tunnel can install itself as a system service on Linux and Windows and as a launch agent on macOS.

By default, Cloudflare Tunnel expects all of the configuration to exist in the .cloudflared/config.yml configuration file. The available options are documented on the configuration file reference , but at a minimum you must specify the following arguments to run as a service:

You must create the Tunnel , and its credentials file, prior to installing it as a service. Creating the Tunnel in advance will generate the credentials file.

If you do not want to create the tunnel in advance, you must install cloudflared with the --legacy flag.

​​ Linux

Run the following command:

$ sudo cloudflared service install

If you have already logged in and have a configuration file in ~/.cloudflared/, these will be copied to /etc/cloudflared/.

If you do not have a configuration file, you will need to create a config.yml file with fields listed above. You can pass a custom file by running cloudflared --config CONFIG-FILE service install.

Then, start the system service with the following command:

$ sudo systemctl start cloudflared

Or start on boot with:

$ sudo systemctl enable cloudflared

​​ macOS

​​ Run at login

Open a Terminal and run the following command:

$ cloudflared service install

Cloudflare Tunnel will be installed as a launch agent, and start whenever you log in, using your local user configuration found in ~/.cloudflared/.

​​ Manually start the service

Run the following command:

$ launchctl start com.cloudflare.cloudflared

Output will be logged to ~/Library/Logs/com.cloudflare.cloudflared.err.log and ~/Library/Logs/com.cloudflare.cloudflared.out.log.

​​ Run at boot

Run the following command:

$ sudo cloudflared service install

Cloudflare Tunnel will be installed as a launch daemon, and start whenever your system boots, using your configuration found in /etc/cloudflared.

​​ Manually start the service

Run the following command:

$ sudo launchctl start com.cloudflare.cloudflared

Output will be logged to /Library/Logs/com.cloudflare.cloudflared.err.log and /Library/Logs/com.cloudflare.cloudflared.out.log.

​​ Windows

1. Download the latest cloudflared version .

2. Create a new directory:

       C:\Cloudflared\bin
       

3. Copy the .exe file you downloaded in step 1 to the new directory and rename it to cloudflared.exe.

4. Open the CMD as an administrator and navigate to C:\Cloudflared\bin.

5. Run this command to install cloudflared:

       cloudflared.exe service install
       

6. Next, run this command to create another directory:

       mkdir C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared
       

7. Now log in and authenticate cloudflared:

       cloudflared.exe login
       

8. The login command will generate a cert.pem file and save it to your user profile by default. Copy the file to the .cloudflared folder created in step 5 using this command:

       copy C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.cloudflared\cert.pem C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared
       

9. Next, create a tunnel:

       cloudflared.exe tunnel create <Tunnel Name>
       

   This will generate a credentials file in .json format.

10. Create a configuration file with the following content:

        tunnel: <Tunnel ID>
        credentials-file: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared\<Tunnel-ID>.json
        # Uncomment the following two lines if you are using self-signed certificates in your origin server
        # originRequest:
        #   noTLSVerify: true
        ingress:
        - hostname: app.mydomain.com
            service: https://internal.mydomain.com
        - service: http_status:404
        logfile:  C:\Cloudflared\cloudflared.log
        

11. Copy the credentials file and the configuration file to the folder created in step 6:

        C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared
        

12. Validate the ingress rule entries in your configuration file using the command:

        cloudflared.exe tunnel ingress validate
        

13. Edit the registry to run cloudflared as a service and point the cloudflared.exe file, the config.yml file and the command to run the tunnel as explained below:

    Move the registry entry under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cloudflared.

14. Locate imagepath and modify it as shown below. Make sure that there are no extra spaces or characters while you modify the registry entry, as this could cause problems with starting the service.

    C:\Cloudflared\bin\cloudflared.exe --config=C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\.cloudflared\config.yml  tunnel run
    

15. If the service does not start, run the following command from C:\Cloudflared\bin:

        sc start cloudflared tunnel run
        

You will see the output below:

SERVICE_NAME: cloudflared
        TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
        STATE              : 2  START_PENDING
                                (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x7d0
        PID                : 3548
        FLAGS              :