cloudflare/cloudflared · info · ErrNoConfigFile

Cannot determine default configuration path. No file %v in %

Error message

Cannot determine default configuration path. No file %v in %v

What it means

ErrNoConfigFile is a sentinel error (exported var) indicating that none of the default configuration files (e.g. ~/.cloudflared/config.yml, /etc/cloudflared/config.yml, cloudflared defaults) could be located in the searched directories. It is not fatal: StartServer and ReadConfigFile return it to signal 'running with flags only', and cliutil/handler.go explicitly treats a match against it as an empty (no config) result.

Source

Thrown at config/configuration.go:38

	"github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/validation"
)

var (
	// DefaultConfigFiles is the file names from which we attempt to read configuration.
	DefaultConfigFiles = []string{"config.yml", "config.yaml"}

	// DefaultUnixConfigLocation is the primary location to find a config file
	DefaultUnixConfigLocation = "/usr/local/etc/cloudflared"

	// DefaultUnixLogLocation is the primary location to find log files
	DefaultUnixLogLocation = "/var/log/cloudflared"

	// Launchd doesn't set root env variables, so there is default
	// Windows default config dir was ~/cloudflare-warp in documentation; let's keep it compatible
	defaultUserConfigDirs = []string{"~/.cloudflared", "~/.cloudflare-warp", "~/cloudflare-warp"}
	defaultNixConfigDirs  = []string{"/etc/cloudflared", DefaultUnixConfigLocation}

	ErrNoConfigFile = fmt.Errorf("Cannot determine default configuration path. No file %v in %v", DefaultConfigFiles, DefaultConfigSearchDirectories())
)

const (
	// BastionFlag is to enable bastion, or jump host, operation
	BastionFlag = "bastion"
)

// DefaultConfigDirectory returns the default directory of the config file
func DefaultConfigDirectory() string {
	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
		path := os.Getenv("CFDPATH")
		if path == "" {
			path = filepath.Join(os.Getenv("ProgramFiles(x86)"), "cloudflared")
			if _, err := os.Stat(path); os.IsNotExist(err) { // doesn't exist, so return an empty failure string
				return ""
			}
		}
		return path

View on GitHub (pinned to 2253eeeb25)

Solutions

1. Create a config file at one of the default locations (e.g. ~/.cloudflared/config.yml) or pass --config /path/to/config.yml explicitly.
2. If running token-managed tunnels, set TunnelTokenFlag (remotely-managed tunnel) so no local config file is needed.
3. Compare the error against config.ErrNoConfigFile (errors.Is) to intentionally treat it as 'no config' rather than a failure.
4. Verify HOME/USERPROFILE is set correctly when running under a service manager, or provide an absolute --config path.

Example fix

// before
inputSource, warnings, err := config.ReadConfigFile(c, log)
if err != nil { return err }
// after
inputSource, warnings, err := config.ReadConfigFile(c, log)
if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, config.ErrNoConfigFile) { return "", nil }
    return err
}

// Go: check a config file exists before running
for _, p := range []string{"~/.cloudflared/config.yml", "/etc/cloudflared/config.yml"} {
    if expanded, err := homedir.Expand(p); err == nil {
        if _, err := os.Stat(expanded); err == nil { break }
    }
}
// or pass --config explicitly

inputSource, warnings, err := config.ReadConfigFile(c, log)
if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, config.ErrNoConfigFile) { /* proceed flag-only */ } else { return err }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling config.ReadConfigFile, setFlagsFromConfigFile, or StartServer with no --config flag and no config file present in any of DefaultConfigSearchDirectories(). Also logged verbatim in tunnel/cmd.go when neither a config source nor a tunnel token is set.

Common situations: Running `cloudflared tunnel run <name>` expecting an ingress config that was never written to ~/.cloudflared/config.yml or /etc/cloudflared/config.yml; fresh container images; launchd/systemd environments where HOME differs so the user-level default dir is missed.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Config file not found": what it means and how to fix it in docker-sync, Maven, Vagrant, Turborepo and other tools — this error's family across 60 libraries.

Related errors

• too many addresses provided, max: 10
• No configuration file was found. Please create one, or use t
• ErrLogConfigurationIsInvalid
• ErrNoBaseURL
• ErrNoIngressRules

AI-assisted analysis of cloudflare/cloudflared@2253eeeb25 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8146901105e0642c. Report an issue: GitHub.