What’s actually changing, and why
This is a distinct technical change from the CIDR-encoded route endpoint removal bundled into the same Cloudflare changelog post and taking effect on the same date. That one is about how a route is addressed; this one is about what fields come back in a response.
Cloudflare’s own changelog gives a real performance problem as its stated reasoning: a Tunnel or Mesh node with many active connections was inflating the response body of every list and get call, since full connection detail came back regardless of whether the caller needed it. Splitting connection detail into its own endpoint means smaller, faster default responses, with connection detail fetched only when actually requested.
The dedicated replacement endpoint, confirmed from Cloudflare’s own API reference, returns connection records shaped as:
{
"id": "<connection uuid>",
"arch": "<cloudflared OS architecture>",
"config_version": "<remote tunnel config version>"
}Structural Comparison Matrix
| Operational Aspect | Before (removed 2026-10-05) | After |
|---|---|---|
| Where connection data lives | Inline connections array on every list/get response | A dedicated /cfd_tunnel/{tunnel_id}/connections call |
| Response size for tunnels with many connections | Inflated by full connection detail | Small, connection detail fetched separately |
| Fields available per connection | Whatever the inline array included | id, arch, config_version |
Fix it: call the dedicated endpoint
curl -X GET \
"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<account_id>/cfd_tunnel/<tunnel_id>" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <api_token>"
# .result.connections used to be herecurl -X GET \
"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<account_id>/cfd_tunnel/<tunnel_id>/connections" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <api_token>"Check both cfd_tunnel and warp_connector
This change applies to both Cloudflare Tunnel (cfd_tunnel) and Cloudflare
Mesh (warp_connector) resources. If automation monitors connection health
for both, both call sites need the same fix, not just the more commonly used
Tunnel one.
Code that only reads other tunnel fields (name, status, created date) and never touches .connections needs no change at all; audit for the literal field access before assuming a rewrite is required.
Confirmed version
Sourced from Cloudflare’s official changelog, “Zero Trust Networks route endpoints and Cloudflare Tunnel connections field retiring on October 5, 2026,” published 2026-07-09, and Cloudflare’s own API reference for the dedicated connections endpoint’s response shape. Browse more posts like this in the Data Automation archive.
