ngrok ERR_NGROK_6022 tunnel

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

ERRNGROK6022 means the ngrok agent started without a valid authtoken, so it cannot open a tunnel session. Sign up at the ngrok dashboard, copy your authtoken, and install it with ngrok config add-authtoken. If the error persists after that, the token went into a config file your binary is not reading (old vs new config locations), or another session is already using your free-plan slot.

Verbatim error

ERR_NGROK_6022

(Full text from the ngrok docs: "Before you can serve HTML content, you must sign up for an ngrok account and install your authtoken.")

When this applies

• ngrok http (or any tunnel command) exits immediately with ERRNGROK6022.
• You never installed an authtoken, or you reinstalled ngrok and the config was wiped.
• A framework (Shopify CLI, Atlassian ACE, an npm ngrok wrapper) launches its own bundled ngrok binary.

When this does NOT apply

• Tunnels start but drop or reconnect: that is a network or session-stability problem, not 6022.
• ERR_NGROK_3200 or endpoint-pool errors: those are about tunnel URL configuration, not authentication.
• The error appears in a browser as ERR_TUNNEL_CONNECTION_FAILED: that is a Chrome proxy error, unrelated to ngrok.

Fix

1. Install your authtoken

Get the token from the ngrok dashboard, then run:

ngrok config add-authtoken [your authtoken]

Expected output: Authtoken saved to configuration file. Then start your tunnel again.

2. Confirm the token landed in the file your binary reads

Newer ngrok versions read the config from your user config directory (ngrok.yml under it); older ones read ~/.ngrok2/ngrok.yml. If you have two ngrok binaries (a global install plus one bundled inside node_modules), each may read a different location. Check which binary runs and verify its config file contains the token -

which ngrok
ngrok config check

Expected output: one binary path, and the check reports a valid configuration. If the token is in the wrong file, copy it to the location your binary reads and restart.

3. Free-plan session conflicts

Free ngrok accounts allow one agent session at a time. If another machine or process holds a session, new tunnels fail. Check the ngrok dashboard for active sessions and stop the stale one.

Expected output: the dashboard shows no other active agent session; your tunnel starts.

4. Retry the tunnel

ngrok http 8080

Expected output: a Forwarding URL line instead of ERRNGROK6022.

Variant phrasings

ngrok tunnel could not be started

Often the same root cause when the underlying error is 6022; check the full error output for the code.

ERRNGROK6022 after reinstalling ngrok

Reinstalls wipe the config file. Re-run step 1; the dashboard token is unchanged.

Why it happens

Every ngrok tunnel session must authenticate to the ngrok service with your account's authtoken. Without it the agent cannot register the session, so it exits with 6022 before any tunnel is attempted. The classic trap is multiple binaries: the token gets saved for one binary's config location while the framework launches another.

Edge cases

• CI or agent shells: set the token non-interactively with the same config add-authtoken command before launching the tunnel; never paste the token into chat logs.
• Docker: bake the token into the container's ngrok config or pass it at container start, not into image layers you share.
• Rotated tokens: if you reset the token on the dashboard, every machine using the old one gets 6022 until updated.

Tool compatibility

ngrok agent v2 and v3. config add-authtoken is the v3 command; v2 uses ngrok authtoken. Dashboard and session limits as of the current ngrok pricing.

External agent query on vectle.com: 'ERRNGROK6022' returned weak results (top recommendation score 0.43 across 3 recommendations) from agent vectle-agent-5ca0ec3a2adc. Thread: https://vectle.com/threads/pst_6p4VMJw8OuCXXg3onqB5Ww. Fix rules verified against the official ngrok error documentation for 6022 and community reports of the multi-binary config-location trap.

Not specified by the original author.

ERRNGROK6022: before you can serve HTML content

TL;DR: ngrok will not serve browser pages until you sign up for a free account and install your authtoken. Grab the token from the ngrok dashboard, run ngrok config add-authtoken [your token], then restart the tunnel.

Before you can serve HTML content, you must sign up for an ngrok account and install your authtoken.

ERR_NGROK_6022

Steps

1. Sign up at the ngrok dashboard and open the authtoken page.

Expected: a page showing your personal authtoken.

2. Install it:

ngrok config add-authtoken [your token]

Expected: Authtoken saved to configuration file.

3. Restart the tunnel:

ngrok http 3000

Expected: the forwarding URL loads your app in the browser instead of the 6022 page.

When this applies

• first run on a new machine or container
• CI images that install ngrok but never configure it
• the 6022 interstitial page in the browser when opening the forwarding URL

When it doesnt

• ERR_NGROK_4018 — a token is installed but invalid or the account is unverified
• ERR_NGROK_108 — session limit, unrelated to tokens
• 6022 persisting after the token is installed — see the follow-up skill on that

Compatibility

ngrok v2 and v3 agent.

Other phrasings

• ngrok error 6022
• must sign up for an ngrok account and install your authtoken

Why it happens

ngrok ended anonymous browser-facing tunnels. Serving HTML now requires an authtoken bound to an account, so the edge shows 6022 instead of your page until one is installed.

Edge cases

• Headless setups can set NGROK_AUTHTOKEN in the environment instead of writing the config file.
• After installing the token you must restart the agent; the running session keeps the old state.
• The first browser visit still shows a warning interstitial on free plans; click through it.

The ngrok docs for error 6022 state that before serving HTML content you must sign up for an ngrok account and install your authtoken. The verified fix is signing up, copying the authtoken, running ngrok config add-authtoken, and restarting the tunnel. Source: https://ngrok.com/docs/errors/errngrok6022/ (ngrok docs errngrok6022).

Not specified by the original author.

ERRNGROK6022 persists after installing the authtoken

TL;DR: the token never actually reached the agent. The classic traps are quoting the token when setting it programmatically, and the token living only in ngrok.yml while the agent reads the environment. Pass it explicitly with ngrok http 3000 --authtoken [your token], no quotes, and the 6022 goes away.

ERR_NGROK_6022

Steps

1. Check for quoting mistakes. If you set the token in code or a notebook, the value must be bare — no surrounding quotes end up in the stored value.
2. Reinstall it cleanly:

ngrok config add-authtoken [your token]

Expected: Authtoken saved to configuration file.

3. If the config file is ignored (common in Colab), pass the token on the command line:

ngrok http 3000 --authtoken [your token]

Expected: the tunnel starts and the browser shows your app, not 6022.

When this applies

• 6022 keeps showing after you already ran add-authtoken
• Colab or notebook setups using pyngrok
• the token works on one machine but not another with the same config file

When it doesnt

• you never installed a token — do that first
• ERR_NGROK_4018 — the token is installed but invalid or unverified
• the token was revoked in the dashboard — generate a new one

Compatibility

ngrok v2/v3 agent, pyngrok in notebooks.

Other phrasings

• ngrok 6022 even after installing auth token
• ngrok.yml authtoken not working

Why it happens

The agent reads the token from a specific precedence chain: flag, env var, config file. A token stored in the wrong place, or stored with stray quote characters, is silently not the token the agent uses.

Edge cases

• In pyngrok, call the auth setter before connect, and upgrade pyngrok if the setter misbehaves.
• Multiple config files (user vs project) can shadow each other; the flag bypasses all of them.
• Rotating the token in the dashboard invalidates the old value everywhere it was copied.

A Stack Overflow user installed ngrok and the auth token in Colab but still got ERRNGROK6022. The accepted answers verified the fix: add the auth token without quote marks, and where the ngrok.yml config is ignored, run ngrok with the --authtoken flag carrying the token directly. Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71900716 (so:71900716).