---
description: Install and run cloudflared as a launch agent on macOS.
title: macOS
image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/as-a-service/macos/og.png?v=c26f7b61a8d0ff73
---

[Skip to content](#main-content)

> Documentation Index  
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/llms.txt  
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# macOS

Last updated Sep 11, 2026|Copy as Markdown| [View as Markdown](https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/as-a-service/macos/index.md)| [Agent setup](https://developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/)

You can install `cloudflared` as a system service on macOS.

## Prerequisites

Before you install Cloudflare Tunnel as a service on your OS, follow Steps 1 through 4 of the [Tunnel CLI setup guide](https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/create-local-tunnel/). At this point you should have a named tunnel and a `config.yml` file in your `$HOME/.cloudflared` directory.

## 1. Configure `cloudflared` as a service

By default, Cloudflare Tunnel expects all of the configuration to exist in the `$HOME/.cloudflared/config.yml` [configuration file](https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/configuration-file/). At a minimum you must specify the following arguments to run as a service:

| Argument | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `tunnel` | The UUID of your tunnel |
| `credentials-file` | The location of the credentials file for your tunnel |

## 2. Run `cloudflared` as a service

You can install the service to either run at login or at boot.

### Run at login

Open a terminal window and run the following command:

```sh
cloudflared service install
```

Cloudflare Tunnel will be installed as a launch agent and start whenever you log in, using your local user configuration found in `~/.cloudflared/`.

### Run at boot

Open a terminal window and run the following command:

```sh
sudo cloudflared service install
```

Cloudflare Tunnel will be installed as a launch daemon and start whenever your system boots, using your configuration found in `/etc/cloudflared`.

## 3. Manually start the service

Run the following command:

```sh
sudo launchctl start com.cloudflare.cloudflared
```

The output will be logged to `/Library/Logs/com.cloudflare.cloudflared.err.log` and `/Library/Logs/com.cloudflare.cloudflared.out.log`.

## Next steps

You can now [route traffic through your tunnel](https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/create-local-tunnel/#5-start-routing-traffic). If you add IP routes or otherwise change the configuration, restart the service to load the new configuration:

```sh
sudo launchctl stop com.cloudflare.cloudflared
sudo launchctl start com.cloudflare.cloudflared
```

Was this helpful?

YesNo

## On this page

[![](https://developers.cloudflare.com/_astro/logo.te5VL_aD.svg)Docs](https://developers.cloudflare.com/)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/as-a-service/macos/#page","headline":"macOS","description":"Install and run cloudflared as a launch agent on macOS.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/as-a-service/macos/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/tunnel/features/locally-managed-tunnels/as-a-service/macos/og.png?v=c26f7b61a8d0ff73","dateModified":"2026-09-11","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","description":"One platform for your apps, agents, and workforce. Build, secure, and scale without managing infrastructure","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/","sameAs":["https://github.com/cloudflare","https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloudflare","https://x.com/cloudflare"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/logo.svg"},"address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"101 Townsend St","addressLocality":"San Francisco","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"94107","addressCountry":"US"},"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"Customer Support","url":"https://support.cloudflare.com/","availableLanguage":["English"]},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"Sales","url":"https://www.cloudflare.com/contact/","availableLanguage":["English"]}]},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/#website","name":"Cloudflare Docs","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/"},"keywords":["MacOS"]}
```