zt — Zero Trust tunnel manager

One command to expose a local service through Cloudflare Zero Trust.

zt up portainer --docker --allow [email protected]
# → https://portainer.yourdomain.com  (ZT-protected, live in ~15s)

What it does

zt up <name> <port> automatically:

1. Creates a Cloudflare Tunnel
2. Configures ingress rules
3. Upserts a CNAME DNS record (replaces any conflicting record)
4. Creates a Zero Trust Access application with an access policy
5. Installs and starts a systemd (Linux) or LaunchAgent (macOS) service
6. Saves state locally

zt down <name> attempts to remove all created resources.

---

Prerequisites

• A domain on Cloudflare
• cloudflared ≥ 2023.x installed and in PATH
• A Cloudflare API token with the following permissions:
  • Account / Cloudflare Tunnel / Edit
  • Zone / DNS / Edit
  • Account / Access: Apps and Policies / Edit

Creating the API token

1. Cloudflare dashboard → My Profile → API Tokens → Create Token
2. Use Custom token, add the permissions above
3. Set Account Resources → your account
4. Set Zone Resources → your domain

---

Install

Option A — install script (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/casablanque-code/cfzt/main/install.sh | bash

Downloads the correct binary for your OS and architecture, verifies the SHA-256 checksum, and places it in /usr/local/bin/zt.

Option B — go install

go install github.com/casablanque-code/cfzt/cmd/zt@latest

Option C — build from source

git clone https://github.com/casablanque-code/cfzt
cd cfzt
go build -o zt ./cmd/zt
sudo mv zt /usr/local/bin/

Option D — download binary

Download from Releases and place in your PATH. Each release includes .sha256 checksum files and a combined checksums.txt.

---

Setup

zt init

You will be prompted for three values:

Field	Where to find it
API Token	Cloudflare → My Profile → API Tokens
Account ID	Cloudflare dashboard → right sidebar
Domain	Your domain as it appears in Cloudflare (e.g. example.com)

zt init validates the token and domain against the Cloudflare API before saving. Config is stored at ~/.zt-config.json (mode 0600).

---

Usage

Bring up a tunnel

zt up <name> <port>

# Restrict access to specific email (Cloudflare sends OTP to that address)
zt up portainer 9000 --allow [email protected]

# Multiple allowed emails
zt up vault 8200 --allow [email protected] --allow [email protected]

# Auto-detect port from a running Docker container
zt up portainer --docker

# Docker + email restriction
zt up portainer --docker --allow [email protected]

# No Zero Trust gate — public access, no Access app created
zt up api 8080 --public

# ZT Access app created but bypass policy (no login required)
zt up grafana 3000

# Force TCP if QUIC is blocked by your ISP
zt up portainer 9000 --tcp

The service becomes available at https://<name>.<domain>.

The tunnel is registered as a system service and survives reboots automatically.

Tear down a tunnel

zt down portainer

Stops the system service, removes local config files, deletes the DNS record, removes the Zero Trust Access app, and deletes the tunnel from Cloudflare.

List tunnels

zt list      # or: zt ls

NAME        URL                             PORT   STATUS   MANAGED BY
portainer   https://portainer.example.com   9000   running  systemd
grafana     https://grafana.example.com     3000   stopped  pid 84291

Tunnel details

zt status portainer

  portainer
  URL:        https://portainer.example.com
  Port:       9000
  Tunnel ID:  07fc193d-d05e-48eb-bb00-22be71823b14
  Managed by: systemd
  Status:     running
  Protocol:   http2 (TCP)
  Created:    2026-05-27 00:01:08
  Log:        /root/.zt/tunnels/portainer/cloudflared.log

View logs

# last 50 lines
zt logs portainer

# last 100 lines
zt logs portainer -n 100

# follow (like tail -f)
zt logs portainer -f

# show logs inline with status
zt status portainer --logs

Backup & restore

Export everything zt currently manages to a portable manifest:

zt export                   # writes zt.yaml in the current directory
zt export -o ~/backup/zt.yaml

The generated zt.yaml captures the intent behind each tunnel — port, protocol, access policy — but deliberately excludes credentials and Cloudflare-specific IDs. It is safe to commit to git.

# zt.yaml — portable cfzt service manifest
# generated by `zt export` — credentials are NOT included here.
# on a new machine: run `zt init` first, then `zt apply zt.yaml`

services:
  grafana:
    port: 3000
  portainer:
    docker: true
    allow:
      - [email protected]
  vault:
    port: 8200
    protocol: quic
  api:
    port: 8080
    public: true

To recreate the same setup on a different machine:

# 1. on the new machine — configure credentials
zt init

# 2. apply the manifest
zt apply zt.yaml

zt apply diffs the manifest against the local state and only creates what is missing. Existing tunnels are never modified or deleted automatically:

⚡ Applying zt.yaml

  plan: to create: 3   skipped: 1   untracked: 0

  ~ api                 already exists — skipping

  ⚡ Bringing up grafana.example.com → localhost:3000
  ...
  🎉 Ready: https://grafana.example.com

  ✅ Done — 3 service(s) created

If a service exists locally but is absent from the manifest, zt apply reports it without touching it — remove it explicitly with zt down <name> if needed.

QUIC/HTTP2 fallback watchdog

cloudflared automatically falls back from QUIC to HTTP/2 when UDP is blocked or unstable — but it never tries QUIC again on its own, even after the network recovers (cloudflare/cloudflared#1534). A brief UDP blip can leave a tunnel stuck on HTTP/2 indefinitely, with no automatic recovery.

zt watchdog runs in the background, watches each tunnel's log for the fallback, and restarts the tunnel after a backoff delay so cloudflared gets a fresh shot at QUIC. Only tunnels running with the default protocol: auto are affected — tunnels pinned via --protocol or --tcp are left alone, since that's a deliberate choice.

zt watchdog enable     # install as a background service, checks every 30s
zt watchdog status     # check if it's running
zt watchdog disable    # remove it

Restarts back off exponentially per tunnel (10 min → 20 min → ... capped at 60 min) so a tunnel with a persistently broken UDP path isn't flapped repeatedly — it still gets retried roughly once an hour rather than being abandoned.

Health check

zt doctor

  System

  ✓  cloudflared installed
     version: cloudflared version 2024.1.0

  Cloudflare

  ✓  API token valid
  ✓  domain example.com found in Cloudflare

  Tunnel: portainer

  ✓  systemd service zt-portainer.service active
  ✓  local service on port 9000 reachable
  ✓  DNS resolves portainer.example.com
  ✓  Cloudflare tunnel exists

  ✓ all checks passed

---

Flags

zt export

Flag	Description
-o <path>	Output path (default: zt.yaml in current directory)

zt apply

zt apply <file> takes no additional flags. It reads the manifest at <file> and creates any missing services.

zt watchdog

Subcommand	Description
enable	Install and start the watchdog as a background service
disable	Stop and remove the watchdog service
status	Show whether the watchdog is running

zt up

Flag	Description
--allow <email>	Restrict access to this email via Cloudflare Access (repeatable)
--public	No Zero Trust gate — skip Access app entirely
--docker	Auto-detect port from a running Docker container with this name
--tcp	Force TCP (http2) — use if QUIC/UDP is blocked by your ISP
--protocol <proto>	Protocol: auto (default), quic, http2

zt logs

Flag	Description
-n <lines>	Number of lines to show (default: 50)
-f	Follow log output

zt status

Flag	Description
--logs	Show recent log output inline

---

File layout

~/.zt-config.json                      # credentials (0600)
~/.zt-state.json                       # tunnel state (0600)
~/.zt/tunnels/<name>/
    config.yml                         # cloudflared config
    <tunnel-id>.json                   # tunnel credentials
    cloudflared.log                    # cloudflared process log

~/.config/systemd/user/
    zt-<name>.service                  # systemd unit (Linux)

~/Library/LaunchAgents/
    com.zt.<name>.plist                # LaunchAgent (macOS)

---

Troubleshooting

cloudflared not found in PATH Install it: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/downloads/

unsupported cloudflared version Your cloudflared is older than 2023.x. Upgrade using the link above.

502 Bad Gateway after zt up The tunnel is up but the local service is not running or not listening on the specified port.

curl http://localhost:<port>
zt logs <name>

Tunnel shows stopped in zt ls

systemctl --user status zt-<name>
zt logs <name>

If the service crashed, restart it:

systemctl --user restart zt-<name>

Or tear down and recreate:

zt down <name> && zt up <name> <port>

tunnel already exists Run zt down <name> first. If the tunnel is stale on Cloudflare's side (e.g. after a failed previous run), zt up detects and removes it automatically before creating a new one.

zone not found for domain Make sure the domain is added to Cloudflare and the API token has Zone / DNS / Edit permission.

Authentication error on Access app creation The API token is missing Account / Access: Apps and Policies / Edit. Edit the token in the Cloudflare dashboard.

DNS record conflict zt up uses upsert — it removes any existing A, AAAA, or CNAME record with the same name before creating the tunnel CNAME. No manual cleanup needed.

Run zt doctor first Most issues are diagnosed automatically:

zt doctor

---

License

MIT