What This Is
We configure and manage Cloudflare’s infrastructure services for your web applications. That covers CDN caching that keeps your site fast globally, Web Application Firewall rules that block malicious traffic, DDoS protection that absorbs attacks without downtime, DNS management for reliable resolution, and SSL certificate provisioning for secure connections. All of it managed programmatically through Cloudflare’s API, so changes are version-controlled, repeatable, and auditable rather than clicked through a dashboard. This sits within our broader Cloudflare API integration work.
This is not a one-time setup. We build Cloudflare configuration into your deployment pipeline so that infrastructure changes are deployed alongside application changes. A new subdomain for a microservice gets its DNS record, SSL certificate, and caching rules created automatically as part of the deploy. A new API endpoint gets WAF rules that match its expected traffic pattern. Cache is purged selectively when content changes, not globally when someone remembers to.
We manage Cloudflare across multiple production domains for our own infrastructure and client sites. Our deployment pipeline creates DNS records, configures page rules, manages WAF rulesets, and handles cache purging via the Cloudflare API as part of every release. One client site serving 2 million monthly page views runs a 95%+ cache hit ratio through Cloudflare, reducing origin server load to a fraction of what it would handle without CDN and cutting average page load time from 2.8 seconds to under 800 milliseconds.
When You Need This
Cloudflare management matters when your site is public-facing and either performance or security cannot be left to chance. If your site loads slowly for international visitors, a properly configured CDN with edge caching solves it. If your site receives bot traffic, credential stuffing attacks, or DDoS attempts, WAF and rate limiting rules filter them before they reach your server.
You also need managed Cloudflare when your infrastructure is complex enough that manual dashboard configuration creates risk. Picture multiple domains, subdomains across environments, API endpoints with different security profiles, and caching rules that vary by content type. Managing all of that by hand in a web UI leads to inconsistencies, forgotten rules, and configuration drift between environments.
How We Work
We start by auditing your current Cloudflare configuration (or setting up a fresh account) and documenting the target state: which domains and subdomains, what caching strategy for each content type, what WAF rules for each endpoint, and what DNS records exist across environments. The target configuration is codified so it can be reviewed, versioned, and applied consistently.
Caching configuration is set per content type and path. Static assets get long TTLs with cache-busting via content hashing. HTML pages get shorter TTLs or bypass cache for dynamic content. API endpoints bypass cache entirely. We configure custom cache keys where needed, serving different cached versions based on device type, language, or authentication status.
WAF rules are configured to match your application’s traffic patterns. Known attack vectors like SQL injection, XSS, and path traversal are blocked by Cloudflare’s managed rulesets. Custom rules handle application-specific threats: rate limiting on login endpoints, geographic blocking for admin routes, bot score thresholds for form submissions. Each rule is logged so you can see what was blocked and why.
What You Get
- CDN configuration with per-path caching rules, custom cache keys, and selective purging
- WAF rules covering OWASP top 10 threats plus custom rules for your application
- DDoS protection with automatic mitigation and alerting
- DNS management via API, with records created, updated, and removed as part of deployment
- SSL certificate provisioning and renewal (including custom certificates if needed)
- Rate limiting rules for login, API, and form submission endpoints
- Bot management using Cloudflare’s bot score with configurable thresholds
- Configuration as code, with all settings version-controlled and deployable through your pipeline
- Performance and security monitoring with alerting on anomalies
Technologies We Use
- Cloudflare API for zone management, DNS records, Page Rules, Cache Rules, WAF custom rules, Rate Limiting, and SSL configuration
- Cloudflare Workers for edge-level logic such as advanced routing, header manipulation, or A/B testing when needed
- Laravel / deployment scripts with API calls integrated into deployment pipelines for DNS, cache purging, and rule updates
- Terraform (optional) for infrastructure-as-code management of Cloudflare resources alongside cloud infrastructure
This same configuration-as-code discipline carries over to the application layer, including our WordPress custom plugin development when a site runs on WordPress.
Related Systems
Cloudflare is the infrastructure layer beneath your application systems. A content management system benefits from CDN caching and image optimisation. An e-commerce system needs WAF protection and PCI-compliant SSL. A client portal requires rate limiting and bot protection on authentication endpoints. Cloudflare handles delivery and defence; the application handles the business logic.
Faster Pages, Fewer Attacks, Less Manual Work
If your site performance or security is managed by clicking through a dashboard, get in touch and we will automate it properly with Cloudflare’s API.
