Following Para installation steps and getting "Connection failed. Run "para-cli setup" or check the configuration file" - para

Question

I am on Ubuntu 20.04
The para jar is running.
I have followed the "Quick Start" steps in Erudika Para Github repo
At the step to run para-cli setup.
I am prompted for Para Access Key.
I am prompted for Para Secret Key.
I am prompted for Para Endpoint to which http://localhost:8080 is answered.
The file /home/ace/.config/para-cli-nodejs/config.json is generated and looks fine.
It matches the accessKey and secretKey from the previously executed curl command to http://localhost:8080/v1/_setup
The problem is para-cli setup ends with:
✔ New JWT generated and saved in
/home/ace/.config/para-cli-nodejs/config.json
✖ Connection failed. Run
"para-cli setup" or check the configuration file
/home/ace/.config/para-cli-nodejs/config.json
I am now stuck. Why is the connection failing?
This is the content of the config.json (this is a test app so secret key is not really secret)
{
"accessKey": "app:para",
"secretKey": "mMEzD6pTGhqbt8n4n3UMTBl1dH9dWTsK6KDThiDFyeLJLzrnRKXCug==",
"endpoint": "http://localhost:8080",
"jwt": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJleHAiOjE1OTUwNDk0MDksImlhdCI6MTU5NDQ0NDYwOSwibmJmIjox>
}
This is the output of the initially run curl http://localhost:8080/v1/_setup
{
"accessKey" : "app:para",
"message" : "Save these keys - they are shown only once!",
"secretKey" : "mMEzD6pTGhqbt8n4n3UMTBl1dH9dWTsK6KDThiDFyeLJLzrnRKXCug=="
}

Answer 1

Make sure that your Para server is running and accessible from the machine you run para-cli on. Sometimes when your database is not configured properly the initialization of the root app is not persisted and the secret key you get changes each time you call curl http://localhost:8080/v1/_setup. Open http://localhost:8080/v1/_setup and make sure you see "All set!".
Use para-cli ping to test the connection to your Para server before creating a new app.