cloudflare/cloudflared · error

incorrect args

Error message

incorrect args

What it means

The access curl command requires at least one argument (the target URL plus optional curl-style flags); with none provided it logs an explanatory message and returns this error. It is pure argument-count validation performed before any network activity.

Source

Thrown at cmd/cloudflared/access/cmd.go:308

	return nil
}

// curl provides a wrapper around curl, passing Access JWT along in request
func curl(c *cli.Context) error {
	err := sentry.Init(sentry.ClientOptions{
		Dsn:     sentryDSN,
		Release: c.App.Version,
	})
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	log := logger.CreateLoggerFromContext(c, logger.EnableTerminalLog)

	args := c.Args()
	if args.Len() < 1 {
		log.Error().Msg("Please provide the access app and command you wish to run.")
		return errors.New("incorrect args")
	}

	cmdArgs, allowRequest := parseAllowRequest(args.Slice())
	appURL, err := getAppURL(cmdArgs, log)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	appInfo, err := token.GetAppInfo(appURL)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	// Verify that the existing token is still good; if not fetch a new one
	if err := verifyTokenAtEdge(appURL, appInfo, c, log); err != nil {
		log.Err(err).Msg("Could not verify token")
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2253eeeb25)

Solutions

1. Pass the target URL as the first argument: `cloudflared access curl https://app.example.com`
2. Quote shell variables so empty values are not silently dropped: "$URL" vs $URL (and validate it is set first)
3. Check the wrapper/script actually forwards arguments ("$@") to cloudflared

Example fix

// before
# script.sh: cloudflared access curl $URL
// after
# script.sh: if [ -z "$URL" ]; then echo "URL required"; exit 1; fi
# cloudflared access curl "$URL"

if len(os.Args) < 3 { // program + subcommand + URL
    return errors.New("usage: cloudflared access curl <url>")
}

err := runAccessCurl(args)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "incorrect args") {
    return fmt.Errorf("access curl requires a URL argument: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `cloudflared access curl` with no arguments, e.g. forgetting the target URL or invoking the command from a wrapper that drops the arguments.

Common situations: Shell scripts with unquoted/empty variables ("$URL" expanding to nothing); misunderstanding that `access curl` needs the app URL as its first argument; copy-pasted commands missing the final argument.

Understand the failure class

Background: "no subcommand specified" and "... is required": CLI errors when a required argument is missing — this error's family across 13 libraries.

Related errors

• not a valid url
• empty application token
• not a valid host
• no input provided
• You must supply at least 2 arguments, first the network you

AI-assisted analysis of cloudflare/cloudflared@2253eeeb25 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0929fb280857b4c1. Report an issue: GitHub.