CURLOPT_CAPATH(3)

💅 CURLOPT_CAPATH(3) 💅

okay bestie, welcome to the Library Functions Manual page for CURLOPT_CAPATH — the one about the directory holding CA certificates. It’s giving very specific, very useful, and honestly kinda iconic ✨

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✨ NAME ✨

CURLOPT_CAPATH — directory holding CA certificates 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_CAPATH, char *capath);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So you pass a char pointer to a null-terminated string, and that string names a directory holding multiple CA certificates to verify the peer with. Slay 💅

If libcurl is built against OpenSSL, the certificate directory must be prepared using the OpenSSL c_rehash utility. This makes sense only when used in combination with the CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER(3) option. No cap, that combo matters.

The CURLOPT_CAPATH(3) function apparently does not work in Windows due to some limitation in OpenSSL. 💀

The application does not have to keep the string around after setting this option. So yes, you can let it go — it’s fine 🫶

Using this option multiple times makes the last set string override the previous ones. Set it to NULL to disable its use again.

The default value for this can be figured out with CURLINFO_CAPATH(3).

🎀 DEFAULT 🎀

A path detected at build time.

🌈 PROTOCOLS 🌈

This functionality affects all TLS based protocols: HTTPS, FTPS, IMAPS, POP3S, SMTPS etc.

This option works only with the following TLS backends: GnuTLS, OpenSSL, mbedTLS and wolfSSL.

🔥 EXAMPLE 🔥

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com/");
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CAPATH, "/etc/cert-dir");
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }
}

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

Added in curl 7.9.8.

💜 RETURN VALUE 💜

It returns CURLE_OK if supported; or an error such as:

• CURLE_NOT_BUILT_IN - Not supported by the SSL backend
• CURLE_UNKNOWN_OPTION
• CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

• CURLINFO_CAPATH(3)
• CURLOPT_CAINFO(3)
• CURLOPT_DEBUGFUNCTION(3)
• CURLOPT_STDERR(3)

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xoxo, bestie 💋 — this page’s source/version is libcurl, its date is 2026-10-12, and the manpage title is CURLOPT_CAPATH(3). periodt 💖