Cloudflare API Integration
Guide for working with Cloudflare's REST API - authentication, SDK usage, common patterns, and troubleshooting.
Quick Decision Tree
How are you calling the Cloudflare API?
├─ From Workers runtime → Use bindings, not REST API (see ../bindings/)
├─ Server-side (Node/Python/Go) → Official SDK (see api.md)
├─ CLI/scripts → Wrangler or curl (see configuration.md)
├─ Infrastructure-as-code → See ../pulumi/ or ../terraform/
└─ One-off requests → curl examples (see api.md)SDK Selection
| Language | Package | Best For | Default Retries |
|---|---|---|---|
| TypeScript | cloudflare |
Node.js, Bun, Next.js, Workers | 2 |
| Python | cloudflare |
FastAPI, Django, scripts | 2 |
| Go | cloudflare-go/v4 |
CLI tools, microservices | 10 |
All SDKs are Stainless-generated from OpenAPI spec (consistent APIs).
Authentication Methods
| Method | Security | Use Case | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| API Token ✓ | Scoped, rotatable | Production | Per-zone or account |
| API Key + Email | Full account access | Legacy only | Everything |
| User Service Key | Limited | Origin CA certs only | Origin CA |
Always use API tokens for new projects.
Rate Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Per user/token | 1200 requests / 5 minutes |
| Per IP | 200 requests / second |
| GraphQL | 320 / 5 minutes (cost-based) |
Reading Order
| Task | Files to Read |
|---|---|
| Initialize SDK client | api.md |
| Configure auth/timeout/retry | configuration.md |
| Find usage patterns | patterns.md |
| Debug errors/rate limits | gotchas.md |
| Product-specific APIs | ../workers/, ../r2/, ../kv/, etc. |
In This Reference
- api.md - SDK client initialization, pagination, error handling, examples
- configuration.md - Environment variables, SDK config, Wrangler setup
- patterns.md - Real-world patterns, batch operations, workflows
- gotchas.md - Rate limits, SDK-specific issues, troubleshooting
See Also
- Cloudflare API Docs
- Bindings Reference - Workers runtime bindings (preferred over REST API)
- Wrangler Reference - CLI tool for Cloudflare development