Getting Started

Cloudflare is one of the world's largest networks of computers, spread across 330+ cities. Most people know it for making websites faster and safer, but it is also a developer platform — a place where you can write code and run it on that same global network, without ever renting or managing a server yourself.

The idea is called "build on Cloudflare": instead of buying one computer in one location, your code runs close to your users everywhere at once. You bring the code; Cloudflare provides the computers, the storage, the database, and even the AI.

Everything below needs a Cloudflare account. The good news: it is free, takes about a minute, and does not ask for a credit card to get started.

1. Open the sign-up page

   Go to dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up in your browser. This is the Cloudflare Dashboard — the website where you manage everything by clicking.

2. Enter email and password

   Type an email address and a strong password, then submit. Use a real inbox you can open.

3. Verify your email

   Cloudflare emails you a verification link. Click it to confirm the account is yours.

4. You're in

   You now see the dashboard. You do NOT need to add a website or domain to follow this lesson — the free Workers plan works on its own.

Wrangler is Cloudflare's command-line tool (CLI) — a program you type commands into, in the terminal, to build and deploy your code. The dashboard is for clicking; Wrangler is for shipping.

1. Install Wrangler

   Run this in your terminal. The -g means "install globally" so you can use the wrangler command anywhere.

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   npm install -g wrangler

2. Log in to Cloudflare

   This opens your browser and asks you to allow Wrangler to use your account. Click Allow, then return to the terminal — it now knows who you are.

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   wrangler login

3. Confirm it worked

   This prints the email of the logged-in account. If you see your email, you are ready for the next step.

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   wrangler whoami

A Worker is a small piece of code that runs on Cloudflare's network and responds to web requests. Let's create one and put it live on the internet — for real.

1. Create the project

   This command (called C3) scaffolds a ready-to-run project in a new folder named my-first-worker. It will ask a few questions — see the next step.

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   npm create cloudflare@latest -- my-first-worker

2. Answer the prompts

   When asked what to start with, choose "Hello World example". For the template, pick "Worker only", and for the language pick "JavaScript". Say no to deploying for now — we'll do it ourselves.

3. Look at the generated code

   Open the new folder. Inside src/index.js you'll find the Worker below. The fetch function runs every time someone visits, and it returns a Response — the page they see.

4. Deploy it to the world

   Run this from inside the project folder. Wrangler uploads your Worker and gives you a public URL like my-first-worker.<your-name>.workers.dev. Open it in a browser — that's your code running live.

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   npx wrangler deploy

export default {
  async fetch(request, env, ctx) {
    return new Response("Hello World!");
  },
};

A Worker on its own is powerful, but real apps need to remember things, store files, and sometimes think. Here's where to go next — each is its own lesson on this site.

• Use the free tier first — 100,000 requests/day is plenty for learning and side projects.
• Dashboard vs CLI: click around the dashboard to explore, but use Wrangler when you want repeatable, scriptable deploys.
• Run npx wrangler dev to test your Worker locally before deploying — it's fast and free.
• When stuck, read the official docs first; almost every page has a working copy-paste example.
• Commit your project to Git early so you can always undo a change.
• Each Worker gets a free .workers.dev URL — great for sharing demos without buying a domain.