Service tokens

You can provide automated systems with service tokens to authenticate against your Zero Trust 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 Zero Trust Open external link , go to Access > Service Auth > 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.

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.

​​ 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.

To renew the service token:

1. In Zero Trust Open external link , go to Access > Service Auth > 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.

​​ Revoke service tokens

If you need to revoke access before the token expires, simply delete the token.

1. In Zero Trust Open external link , go to Access > Service Auth > Service Tokens.
2. Delete the token you need to revoke.

Services that rely on a deleted service token can no longer reach your application.

​​ 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.

To configure a service token expiration alert:

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard Open external link , go to the Notifications tab.
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 in the Notifications tab of the Cloudflare dashboard.