grafana/k6 · error

Run `k6 cloud login` to authenticate, or check the docs for…

Error message

Run `k6 cloud login` to authenticate, or check the docs for other options at https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/testing/k6/author-run/tokens-and-cli-authentication

What it means

errCloudAuth is the advisory tail of the composite error built by checkCloudLoginFor (internal/cmd/cloud.go:56-64): when a cloud command finds no token or no stack ID, k6 wraps errMissingToken/errMissingStackID together with this pointer to run `k6 cloud login`. Seeing this message means the cloud credentials in the consolidated config (disk config file + environment) are incomplete.

Solutions

1. Run `k6 cloud login -t <API_TOKEN> --stack <stack-url-or-slug>` once — it validates and stores token, stack ID, and default project
2. For CI/headless use, export both K6_CLOUD_TOKEN and K6_CLOUD_STACK_ID environment variables
3. Run `k6 cloud login -s` to inspect what is currently stored and spot the missing field
4. If you use a custom config file, confirm K6_CONFIG points at it and it contains the cloud collector entries

Example fix

# before
export K6_CLOUD_TOKEN=glc_ey...
k6 cloud run script.js   # fails: stack ID not configured

# after
k6 cloud login -t glc_ey... --stack my-team
k6 cloud run script.js

# shell/CI: verify a complete login before any cloud command
k6 cloud login -s | grep -q 'token: <not set>' && { echo 'k6 token missing'; exit 1; }
k6 cloud login -s | grep -q 'stack-id: <not set>' && { echo 'k6 stack missing'; exit 1; }

k6 cloud run script.js || {
  code=$?
  echo "k6 cloud failed (exit $code) - check auth config: run 'k6 cloud login'" >&2
  exit $code
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `k6 cloud run script.js`, `k6 cloud upload`, `k6 cloud project list`, or `k6 cloud test list` when either the token (K6_CLOUD_TOKEN / config file) or the stack ID (K6_CLOUD_STACK_ID / config file) is missing; it is chained via %w under the 'Running cloud tests requires auth settings' prefix (or the command-specific prefix).

Common situations: Fresh install with no login yet; CI runners that export K6_CLOUD_TOKEN but forget K6_CLOUD_STACK_ID; running `k6 cloud login -r` (reset) and then a cloud command; config file at a non-default K6_CONFIG path that lacks the cloud section.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• 97
• access token not configured
• stack cannot be empty
• stack ID not configured
• stack value is required but it was not passed or is empty

AI-assisted analysis of grafana/k6@94169daab2 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b0aa8e806f8fd761. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/cmd/cloud.go:35

	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/cloudapi"
	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/cmd/state"
	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/errext"
	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/errext/exitcodes"
	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/internal/build"
	cloudapiv6 "go.k6.io/k6/v2/internal/cloudapi/v6"
	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/internal/ui/pb"
	"go.k6.io/k6/v2/lib"

	"github.com/fatih/color"
	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
)

const cloudRunAuthPrefix = "Running cloud tests requires auth settings"

var (
	errCloudAuth = errors.New( //nolint:staticcheck // user-facing error message, capitalization is intentional
		"Run `k6 cloud login` to authenticate, or check the docs for other options at" +
			" https://grafana.com/docs/grafana-cloud/testing/k6/author-run/tokens-and-cli-authentication",
	)
	errMissingToken   = errors.New("access token not configured")
	errMissingStackID = errors.New("stack ID not configured")

	// errNoProjectConfigured is returned by cloud sub-commands that require a
	// concrete project to operate on when none can be resolved from the flags,
	// the environment, or the logged-in configuration.
	errNoProjectConfigured = errors.New(
		"no project specified. Use --project-id, set K6_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID, or run `k6 cloud login` to set a default project",
	)
)

// checkCloudLogin verifies that both a token and a stack are configured.
// Together they represent a complete Grafana Cloud login.
func checkCloudLogin(conf cloudapi.Config) error {
	return checkCloudLoginFor(conf, cloudRunAuthPrefix)

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