workers-for-platforms-template

Workers

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Website Builder

Build your own website hosting platform using Cloudflare Workers for Platforms. Users can create and deploy websites through a simple web interface.

Deploy to Cloudflare

Preview

Features

  • Website Builder UI - Web interface for creating and deploying sites
  • Static Site Hosting - Drag & drop HTML/CSS/JS files with automatic asset handling
  • Custom Worker Code - Write dynamic sites with full Workers capabilities
  • Subdomain Routing - Each site gets sitename.yourdomain.com
  • Custom Domains - Users can connect their own domains with automatic TLS certificates (powered by custom hostnames)
  • Admin Dashboard - Manage all sites and monitor deployment status at /admin

How It Works

This template demonstrates how to build a multi-tenant platform using Workers for Platforms:

  1. Dispatch Namespace - A container that holds all user-deployed Workers. Each user site is a separate Worker script within this namespace.

  2. D1 Database - Stores project metadata including site names, subdomains, custom hostnames, and deployment timestamps.

  3. Dynamic Routing - The main Worker routes requests to the appropriate user Worker based on subdomain or custom hostname.

  4. Custom Hostnames - Enables custom domain support with automatic TLS certificate provisioning.

Bindings Used

  • dispatcher (Workers for Platforms) - Routes requests to user-deployed Workers
  • DB (D1) - Stores project metadata and configuration

Quick Start

Click the Deploy to Cloudflare button above. Everything is auto-configured!

Optional: Custom Domain

If you want to use your own domain instead of *.workers.dev:

Variable Description
CUSTOM_DOMAIN Your root domain (e.g., platform.com)

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Your Platform (this template)                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  platform.com              → Website Builder UI             │
│  platform.com/admin        → Admin Dashboard                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  User Sites (Workers for Platforms)                         │
│  ├── site1.platform.com    → User's deployed Worker         │
│  ├── site2.platform.com    → User's deployed Worker         │
│  └── custom.userdomain.com → Custom domain with SSL         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  my.platform.com           → Fallback origin for CNAMEs     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cloudflare/templates.git
cd templates/workers-for-platforms-template

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run interactive setup (creates tokens, configures everything)
npm run setup

# Start local development server
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

The setup script will:

  • Validate your Cloudflare credentials
  • Create the dispatch namespace for Workers for Platforms
  • Auto-create API tokens with correct permissions (if needed)
  • Generate .dev.vars with all required configuration
  • Update wrangler.jsonc with your settings

Custom Domain Setup

To use your own domain instead of *.workers.dev:

1. Update wrangler.jsonc

{
    "vars": {
        "CUSTOM_DOMAIN": "platform.com",
    },
    "routes": [{ "pattern": "*/*", "zone_name": "platform.com" }],
    "workers_dev": false,
}

2. Add DNS Records

In your Cloudflare DNS settings for platform.com:

Type Name Content Result Proxy
A * 192.0.2.1 *.platform.com Proxied
A my 192.0.2.1 my.platform.com Proxied

Note: The root domain (platform.com) is automatically configured when you add a custom domain to your Worker in the Cloudflare dashboard. The 192.0.2.1 is a dummy IP - Cloudflare's proxy handles the actual routing.

About the Fallback Origin (my.platform.com):

This is the hostname your customers will CNAME their custom domains to. When a user wants to connect their own domain (e.g., shop.example.com), they add:

CNAME  shop.example.com  →  my.platform.com

Cloudflare uses this fallback origin to route traffic for custom hostnames.

3. Redeploy

npm run deploy

Security

The admin page (/admin) shows all projects. Protect it with Cloudflare Access:

  1. Go to Zero Trust → Access → Applications
  2. Add application for platform.com/admin*
  3. Configure authentication policy

Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
"Dispatch namespace not found" Enable Workers for Platforms: dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/workers-for-platforms
"Custom domain not working" Check Zone ID and DNS records are correct
"Custom hostnames require additional setup" Custom hostname tokens are auto-provisioned during Deploy to Cloudflare
"404 on deployed sites" Ensure uploaded files include index.html at the root
Database errors Visit /admin to check status, or /init to reset

View logs:

npx wrangler tail

Prerequisites

Learn More

License

Apache-2.0

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