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Service tokens

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You can provide automated systems with service tokens to authenticate against your Cloudflare One policies. Cloudflare Access will generate service tokens that consist of a Client ID and a Client Secret. Automated systems or applications can then use these values to reach an application protected by Access.

This section covers how to create, renew, and revoke a service token.

Create a service token

  1. In the Cloudflare dashboard ↗, go to Zero Trust > Access controls > Service credentials > Service Tokens.

  2. Select Create Service Token.

  3. Name the service token. The name allows you to easily identify events related to the token in the logs and to revoke the token individually.

  4. Choose a Service Token Duration. This sets the expiration date for the token.

  5. Select Generate token. You will see the generated Client ID and Client Secret for the service token, as well as their respective request headers.

  6. Copy the Client Secret.

  1. Make a POST request to the Access Service Tokens endpoint:

    Required API token permissions

    At least one of the following token permissions is required:
    • Access: Service Tokens Write
    Create a service tokenbash
    curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/access/service_tokens" \
	--request POST \
	--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
	--json '{
		"name": "CI/CD token",
		"duration": "8760h"
	}'

  2. Copy the client_id and client_secret values returned in the response.

    Responsejson
    "result": {
	"client_id": "88bf3b6d86161464f6509f7219099e57.access",
	"client_secret": "bdd31cbc4dec990953e39163fbbb194c93313ca9f0a6e420346af9d326b1d2a5",
	"created_at": "2025-09-25T22:26:26Z",
	"expires_at": "2026-09-25T22:26:26Z",
	"id": "3537a672-e4d8-4d89-aab9-26cb622918a1",
	"name": "CI/CD token",
	"updated_at": "2025-09-25T22:26:26Z",
	"duration": "8760h",
	"client_secret_version": 1
}

  1. Add the following permission to your cloudflare_api_token ↗:

    • Access: Service Tokens Write

  2. Configure the cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token ↗ resource:

    resource "cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token" "example_service_token" {
	account_id = var.cloudflare_account_id
	name       = "Example service token"
	duration  = "8760h"

	lifecycle {
		create_before_destroy = true
	}
}

  3. Get the Client ID and Client Secret of the service token:

    Example: Output to CLI

    1. Output the Client ID and Client Secret to the Terraform state file: 
      output "example_service_token_client_id" {
	value     = cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token.example_service_token.client_id
}

output "example_service_token_client_secret" {
	value     = cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token.example_service_token.client_secret
	sensitive = true
}
    2. Apply the configuration: 
      terraform apply
    3. Read the Client ID and Client Secret: 
      terraform output -raw example_service_token_client_id
      terraform output -raw example_service_token_client_secret

    Example: Store in HashiCorp Vault

    	resource "vault_generic_secret" "example_service_token" {
		path         = "kv/cloudflare/example_service_token"

		data_json = jsonencode({
			"CLIENT_ID"     = cloudflare_access_service_token.example_service_token.client_id
			"CLIENT_SECRET" = cloudflare_access_service_token.example_service_token.client_secret
		})
	}

You can now configure your Access applications and device enrollment permissions to accept this service token. Make sure to set the policy action to Service Auth; otherwise, Access will prompt for an identity provider login.

Connect your service to Access

Initial request

To authenticate to an Access application using your service token, add the following to the headers of any HTTP request:

CF-Access-Client-Id: <CLIENT_ID>

CF-Access-Client-Secret: <CLIENT_SECRET>

For example,

curl -H "CF-Access-Client-Id: <CLIENT_ID>" -H "CF-Access-Client-Secret: <CLIENT_SECRET>" https://app.example.com

If the service token is valid, Access generates a JWT scoped to the application in the form of a CF_Authorization cookie. You can use this cookie to authenticate subsequent requests to the application.

Authenticate with a single header

You can configure a self-hosted Access application to accept a service token in a single HTTP header, as an alternative to the CF-Access-Client-Id and CF-Access-Client-Secret pair of headers. This is useful for authenticating SaaS services that only support sending one custom header in a request (for example, the Authorization header).

To authenticate using a single header:

  1. Get your existing Access application configuration:

    Required API token permissions

    At least one of the following token permissions is required:
    • Access: Apps and Policies Write
    • Access: Apps and Policies Read
    Get an Access applicationbash
    curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/access/apps/$APP_ID" \
	--request GET \
	--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"

  2. Make a PUT request with the name of the header you want to use for service token authentication. To avoid overwriting your existing configuration, the PUT request body should contain all fields returned by the previous GET request.

    Required API token permissions

    At least one of the following token permissions is required:
    • Access: Apps and Policies Write
    Update an Access applicationbash
    curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/access/apps/$APP_ID" \
	--request PUT \
	--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
	--json '{
		"domain": "app.example.com",
		"type": "self_hosted",
		"read_service_tokens_from_header": "Authorization"
	}'

  3. Add the header to any HTTP request. For example,

    curl -H "Authorization: {\"cf-access-client-id\": \"<CLIENT_ID>\", \"cf-access-client-secret\": \"<CLIENT_SECRET>\"}" https://app.example.com

Subsequent requests

After you have authenticated to the application using the service token, add the resulting CF_Authorization cookie to the headers of all subsequent requests:

curl -H "cookie: CF_Authorization=<CF_AUTHORIZATION_COOKIE>" https://app.example.com

If you prefer to use a raw header, send the value as cf-access-token:

curl -H "cf-access-token: <CF_AUTHORIZATION_COOKIE>" https://app.example.com

All requests with this cookie will succeed until the JWT expires.

Renew service tokens

Service tokens expire according to the token duration you selected when you created the token.

  1. In the Cloudflare dashboard ↗, go to Zero Trust > Access controls > Service credentials > Service Tokens.
  2. Locate the token you want to renew.
  3. To extend the token's lifetime by one year, select Refresh.
  4. To extend the token's lifetime by more than a year:
    1. Select Edit.
    2. Choose a new Service Token Duration.
    3. Select Save. The expiration date will be extended by the selected amount of time.

To extend the token's lifetime by one year, make a POST request to the Refresh a service token endpoint:

Required API token permissions

At least one of the following token permissions is required:
  • Access: Service Tokens Write
Refresh a service tokenbash
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/access/service_tokens/$SERVICE_TOKEN_ID/refresh" \
	--request POST \
	--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"

To extend the token's lifetime by a custom duration, make a PUT request to the Update a service token endpoint with the new duration:

Required API token permissions

At least one of the following token permissions is required:
  • Access: Service Tokens Write
Update a service tokenbash
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/access/service_tokens/$SERVICE_TOKEN_ID" \
	--request PUT \
	--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
	--json '{
		"duration": "17520h"
	}'

To renew the service token, update the duration attribute on the cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token ↗ resource and apply the change. Cloudflare resets the expiration relative to the time of the update.

resource "cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token" "example_service_token" {
	account_id = var.cloudflare_account_id
	name       = "Example service token"
	duration   = "17520h"

	lifecycle {
		create_before_destroy = true
	}
}

Revoke service tokens

If you need to revoke access before the token expires, delete the token. Services that rely on a deleted service token can no longer reach your application.

  1. In the Cloudflare dashboard ↗, go to Zero Trust > Access controls > Service credentials > Service Tokens.
  2. Delete the token you need to revoke.

Make a DELETE request to the Delete a service token endpoint:

Required API token permissions

At least one of the following token permissions is required:
  • Access: Service Tokens Write
Delete a service tokenbash
curl "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/access/service_tokens/$SERVICE_TOKEN_ID" \
	--request DELETE \
	--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"

To revoke the service token, remove the cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token ↗ resource from your configuration and run terraform apply, or target the resource for destruction:

terraform destroy -target=cloudflare_zero_trust_access_service_token.example_service_token

Set a token expiration alert

An alert can be configured to notify a week before a service token expires to allow an administrator to invoke a token refresh.

Expiring Access Service Token Alert

Who is it for?

Access customers who want to receive a notification when their service token is about to expire.

Other options / filters

None.

Included with

Purchase of Access

What should you do if you receive one?

Extend the expiration date of the service token. For more details, refer to Renew your service token.

To configure a service token expiration alert:

  1. In the Cloudflare dashboard ↗, go to the Notifications page. Go to Notifications ↗
  2. Select Add.
  3. Select Expiring Access Service Token.
  4. Enter a name for your alert and an optional description.
  5. (Optional) Add other recipients for the notification email.
  6. Select Save.

Your alert has been set and is now visible on the Notifications page.

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