Set up a tunnel locally
Follow this step-by-step guide to get your first tunnel up and running using the CLI.
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure you:
1. Download and install cloudflared
Windows
First, download cloudflared
on your machine. Visit the downloads page to find the right package for your OS.
Next, rename the executable to cloudflared.exe
, and then open PowerShell. Change directory to your Downloads folder and run .\cloudflared.exe --version
. It should output the version of cloudflared
. Note that cloudflared.exe
could be cloudflared-windows-amd64.exe
or cloudflared-windows-386.exe
if you haven’t renamed it.
Replace the path in the example with the specifics of your Downloads directory:
PS C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\cloudflared-stable-windows-amd64> .\cloudflared.exe --version
macOS
The first step to creating a tunnel is to download and install cloudflared
on your machine.
$ brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared
Alternatively, you can download the latest Darwin amd64 release directly.
Linux
First, download cloudflared
on your machine. Visit the downloads page to find the right package for your OS.
Next, install cloudflared
.
.deb install
Use the deb package manager to install cloudflared
on compatible machines. amd64 / x86-64
is used in this example.
$ wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb && dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb
.rpm install
Use the rpm package manager to install cloudflared
on compatible machines. amd64 / x86-64
is used in this example.
$ wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-x86_64.rpm
Arch Linux
cloudflared
is in the Arch Linux community
repository.
Use pacman
to install cloudflared
on compatible machines.
$ pacman -Syu cloudflared
Build from source
You can also build the latest version of cloudflared
from source with the following steps.
$ git clone https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared.git
$ cd cloudflared
$ make cloudflared
$ go install github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/cmd/cloudflared
Depending on where you installed cloudflared
, you can move it to a known path as well.
$ mv /root/cloudflared/cloudflared /usr/bin/cloudflared
2. Authenticate cloudflared
$ cloudflared tunnel login
Running this command will:
- Open a browser window and prompt you to log in to your Cloudflare account. After logging in to your account, select your hostname.
- Generate an account certificate, the cert.pem file, in the default
cloudflared
directory.
3. Create a tunnel and give it a name
$ cloudflared tunnel create <NAME>
Running this command will:
- Create a tunnel by establishing a persistent relationship between the name you provide and a UUID for your tunnel. At this point, no connection is active within the tunnel yet.
- Generate a tunnel credentials file in the default
cloudflared
directory. - Create a subdomain of
.cfargotunnel.com
.
From the output of the command, take note of the tunnel’s UUID and the path to your tunnel’s credentials file.
Confirm that the tunnel has been successfully created by running:
$ cloudflared tunnel list
4. Create a configuration file
Create a configuration file in your .cloudflared
directory using any text editor. This file will configure the tunnel to route traffic from a given origin to the hostname of your choice.
Add the following fields to the file:
If you are connecting an application
url: http://localhost:8000tunnel: <Tunnel-UUID>credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<Tunnel-UUID>.json
If you are connecting a network
tunnel: <Tunnel-UUID>credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<Tunnel-UUID>.jsonwarp-routing: enabled: true
Confirm that the configuration file has been successfully created by running:
$ cat config.yml
5. Start routing traffic
Now assign a CNAME record that points traffic to your tunnel subdomain.
If you are connecting an application
$ cloudflared tunnel route dns <UUID or NAME> <hostname>
If you are connecting a network
Add the IP/CIDR you would like to be routed through the tunnel.
$ cloudflared tunnel route ip add <IP/CIDR> <UUID or NAME>
You can confirm that the route has been successfully established by running:
$ cloudflared tunnel route ip show
6. Run the tunnel
Run the tunnel to proxy incoming traffic from the tunnel to any number of services running locally on your origin.
$ cloudflared tunnel run <UUID or NAME>
If your configuration file has a custom name or is not in the .cloudflared
directory, add the --config
flag and specify the path.
$ cloudflared tunnel --config /path/your-config-file.yaml run
7. Check the tunnel
Your tunnel configuration is complete! If you want to get information on the tunnel you just created, you can run:
$ cloudflared tunnel info <UUID or NAME>