This article helps you resolve the error that appears when you paste a Cloudflare API token into Search Atlas. The error is almost always caused by one of a few specific token configuration issues — this guide walks you through each one so you can identify and fix the exact cause.

## **🔍 Common Causes**

- **Incorrect token permissions:** The token was created without the required permissions for Search Atlas to connect.
- **Token scope too narrow:** The token is scoped to a specific zone (domain) but Search Atlas requires access to all zones, or vice versa.
- **Extra whitespace:** Copying the token from Cloudflare sometimes includes a leading or trailing space, which causes the validation to fail silently.
- **Token was created as a Global API Key instead of an API Token:** Search Atlas requires an API Token, not the Global API Key.
- **Token has been revoked or expired:** A previously working token may have been deleted or expired in Cloudflare.

## **🛠️ Step-by-Step**

1. **Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard** at dash.cloudflare.com and go to **My Profile → API Tokens**.
2. **Verify you are using an API Token, not the Global API Key.** The Global API Key will not work. If you used the Global API Key, you must create a new API Token instead.
3. **Check the token's permissions.** The token must include at minimum: **Zone → DNS → Edit** and **Zone → Zone → Read**. Read-only DNS access is not enough because OTTO writes DNS settings (it enables DNS proxy on DNS-only records). If these permissions are missing, click **Edit** on the token, add the missing permissions, and save.
4. **Check the token's Zone Resources scope.** Set it to **All zones** unless Search Atlas documentation specifies a single-zone scope. Mismatched scope is a frequent cause of this error.
5. **Regenerate the token** if you are unsure of its current state. In Cloudflare, click **Roll** (or delete and recreate it) to get a fresh token value.
6. **Copy the new token carefully.** Click the copy icon in Cloudflare rather than selecting the text manually. This reduces the risk of copying extra whitespace characters.
7. **Paste the token into Search Atlas** by opening your project settings and navigating to the Cloudflare integration field. Before saving, click inside the field and press **Ctrl+A** (or **Cmd+A** on Mac) to select all, then paste — this replaces any previous value fully rather than appending.
8. **Save the token** and wait for the connection validation to complete.

## **✅ How to Confirm It Worked**

After saving, Search Atlas will attempt to validate the token immediately. You will know the connection succeeded when:

- The error message disappears and is replaced by a green success indicator or a confirmation message such as **"Token connected"** or **"Cloudflare connected successfully."**
- Your Cloudflare zones or domain data become visible within the integration area — if zones were not populating before, they should now appear in a dropdown or list.
- No red error banner is shown after saving. If the red error persists even after following all steps, the token value itself is the issue — return to Cloudflare and create a brand-new token from scratch rather than reusing the same one.

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.