What causes "error parsing tunnel ID" in cloudflare/cloudflared?

Confirm the exact tunnel name/ID with `cloudflared tunnel list` and retry

error parsing tunnel ID

Error message

error parsing tunnel ID

What it means

`cloudflared tunnel info` resolves its single argument (ID or name) to a tunnel UUID via sc.findID. If the argument is neither a valid UUID nor an existing tunnel name, the error is wrapped as 'error parsing tunnel ID'.

Source

Thrown at cmd/cloudflared/tunnel/subcommands.go:539

		CustomHelpTemplate: commandHelpTemplate(),
	}
}

func tunnelInfo(c *cli.Context) error {
	sc, err := newSubcommandContext(c)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	warningChecker := updater.StartWarningCheck(c)
	defer warningChecker.LogWarningIfAny(sc.log)

	if c.NArg() != 1 {
		return cliutil.UsageError(`"cloudflared tunnel info" accepts exactly one argument, the ID or name of the tunnel to get info about.`)
	}
	tunnelID, err := sc.findID(c.Args().First())
	if err != nil {
		return errors.Wrap(err, "error parsing tunnel ID")
	}

	client, err := sc.client()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	clients, err := client.ListActiveClients(tunnelID)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	sortBy := c.String("sort-by")
	invalidSortField := false
	sort.Slice(clients, func(i, j int) bool {
		cmp := func() bool {
			switch sortBy {
			case "id":

View on GitHub (pinned to 2253eeeb25)

Solutions

Confirm the exact tunnel name/ID with `cloudflared tunnel list` and retry
If using a name, re-authenticate (`cloudflared tunnel login`) so the lookup API works
If using a UUID, verify it is a complete 8-4-4-4-12 hex string
Check for typos, extra spaces, or wrong credentials-file paths in the argument

Example fix

// before
cloudflared tunnel info prod-tunel   # typo, not found
// after
cloudflared tunnel list && cloudflared tunnel info prod-tunnel

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// resolve name-or-id yourself before calling info:
var tunnelID uuid.UUID
if id, err := uuid.Parse(arg); err == nil {
	tunnelID = id
} else {
	tunnelID, err = lookupIDByName(arg) // requires valid cert.pem
	if err != nil { return err }
}

Type guard

func isTunnelUUID(v string) bool {
	_, err := uuid.Parse(strings.TrimSpace(v))
	return err == nil
}

Try / catch

tunnelID, err := sc.findID(c.Args().First())
if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("error parsing tunnel ID: %w", err)
}

Prevention

Verify the tunnel name exists with `cloudflared tunnel list` before info
Ensure cert.pem exists when resolving by name
Favor UUIDs in automation scripts to skip name resolution
Quote arguments to prevent shell word-splitting

When it happens

Trigger: Running `cloudflared tunnel info <arg>` with a typo'd tunnel name, a name that doesn't exist in the account, or a malformed UUID — anything for which findID cannot produce a uuid.UUID.

Common situations: Passing a deleted tunnel's name; case-sensitivity/typo in tunnel names; passing the credentials file name instead of the tunnel name; unauthenticated context so the name lookup fails.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid id" errors: invalid identifier format — why libraries reject IDs before lookup, and how to fix them — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of cloudflare/cloudflared@2253eeeb25 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bf821df8a921b174. Report an issue: GitHub.