Hosting on Cloudflare Workers

Cloudflare Workers let you run JavaScript (or WASM) at the edge—right next to your users. Think of it as a super‑fast, globally distributed mini‑server that spins up in milliseconds. In this post we’ll cover:

What Cloudflare Workers actually are
Why you might want to use them
Getting your first worker up and running
Common patterns & best practices
Performance tricks & cost considerations

What are Workers?

Workers are lightweight serverless functions that execute in response to HTTP requests. They run on Cloudflare’s Anycast edge network, which means the code is executed in the data center closest to the user. The result? Near‑zero latency.

Why Use Workers?

Ultra‑fast responses – no cold start, no VM spin‑up.
Runs everywhere Cloudflare has a datacenter (over 200).
Serverless pricing: 1 000 000 requests per month free.
Built‑in KV storage, Durable Objects, and R2 object storage.
Easy integration with Pages for static sites.

Getting Started: The Quick‑Start Tool

First, install wrangler, Cloudflare’s CLI for Workers:

npm i -g @cloudflare/wrangler
wrangler login
wrangler init my-worker --site
cd my-worker

Now edit src/index.js (or index.mjs):

export default {
  async fetch(request, env, ctx) {
    return new Response("Hello from Cloudflare Workers!", {status: 200})
  }
}

Deploy with:

wrangler publish

Congratulations! Visit the generated URL and see the magic happen in under 10 ms.

Common Patterns

API Gateway: Proxy external APIs, add caching, or apply rate‑limit rules.
SSR (Server‑Side Rendering): Render React or Vue on the edge for instant content.
Auth Gateways: Validate JWTs or session tokens before hitting your origin.
Edge Cache: Store dynamic responses in KV or Durable Objects for fast repeat hits.

Performance Tricks

Cache Control Headers: Let the edge cache your static assets for months.
Fetch Optimization: Use await fetch(url, { cf: { cacheEverything: true } }) to let Cloudflare cache third‑party responses.
Keep it Tiny: Bundle your worker with esbuild or rollup and minify. Size matters for cold‑start time.
Leverage Durable Objects for stateful workloads; they run on a single node but are globally available.

Cost Considerations

The free tier offers 1 000 000 requests/month and 10 GB of KV reads/writes. Beyond that you pay per request (≈$0.50/million) and per KV operation. For most hobby projects, the free tier is more than enough. Remember: you’re billed for the total bytes transferred, not just the number of requests.

Resources to Deepen Your Knowledge

Conclusion

Cloudflare Workers are perfect for anyone who wants to ship code close to their users, without worrying about traditional server management. Whether you’re building a static site, a dynamic API, or a real‑time game backend, Workers give you the speed and simplicity to make it happen.

Want to see a demo? Check out the Edge Quiz built on Workers.