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Deploy with Cloudflare

Cloudflare provides edge hosting, CDN caching, and static asset storage for SkyCMS. This guide covers R2 object storage for docs and media, CDN cache purging, and the automated documentation deployment pipeline.

Architecture Overview

SkyCMS Editor ──► Cloudflare CDN ──► End Users
                       │
Azure Storage ◄────────┘ (origin pull)
                       │
Cloudflare R2 ◄────────┘ (direct R2 storage)

SkyCMS integrates with Cloudflare at three levels:

Layer Purpose Configuration
R2 Storage Host documentation static site and media assets R2 Configuration
CDN Caching Cache and purge published content at the edge CDN Configuration
Docs Pipeline Automated MkDocs build and deploy to R2 deploy-docs-cloudflare.yml workflow

When to Use Cloudflare Edge Hosting

  • You need global CDN distribution for published sites
  • You want to host the documentation site on Cloudflare R2
  • You need programmable cache purging when content changes
  • You want DDoS protection and edge security in front of your origin

Compliance and Licensing

Required Secrets

Before deploying, configure these six secrets in your GitHub repository:

Secret Description
CLOUDFLARE_R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID R2 API access key
CLOUDFLARE_R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY R2 API secret key
CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID Your Cloudflare account ID
CLOUDFLARE_R2_BUCKET_NAME Target R2 bucket name
CLOUDFLARE_ZONE_ID DNS zone for cache purging
CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN API token with zone permissions

Security: Never commit secrets to source control. Use UploadSecretsToGithubRepo.ps1 to sync local secrets to GitHub. Rotate tokens every 90 days and use minimum required permissions.

See CLOUDFLARE_SECRETS_SETUP.md in the .github folder for detailed setup instructions.

R2 Storage Setup

Cloudflare R2 provides S3-compatible object storage without egress fees.

Creating a Bucket

  1. Log in to the Cloudflare dashboard
  2. Navigate to R2 Object Storage
  3. Create a new bucket (name must match CLOUDFLARE_R2_BUCKET_NAME)
  4. Enable public access if serving static content directly

Configuration

See Cloudflare R2 Configuration for SkyCMS storage provider settings.

CDN Cache Management

SkyCMS can purge Cloudflare's CDN cache when content is published or updated.

How Purging Works

When an article is published, the CMS sends a cache purge request to Cloudflare's API targeting the specific URLs that changed. This ensures visitors see updated content immediately without waiting for TTL expiry.

Configuration

See Cloudflare CDN Configuration for purge API settings and cache rule configuration.

Documentation Deployment Pipeline

The deploy-docs-cloudflare.yml GitHub Actions workflow automatically deploys documentation to R2:

Trigger

Pushes to Docs/** paths on the default branch.

Pipeline Steps

  1. Build — Runs mkdocs build to generate the static documentation site
  2. Pre-deploy validation — Checks for broken internal links
  3. Upload to R2 — Syncs built files to the R2 bucket
  4. Post-deploy validation — Verifies links resolve correctly on the live site

Concurrency

The workflow uses GitHub Actions concurrency controls to prevent overlapping deployments. If a new push arrives while a deployment is running, the in-progress deployment completes before the new one starts.

Validation Checklist

After deploying, verify:

  • [ ] Documentation site loads at the configured R2/CDN URL
  • [ ] CSS and images render correctly
  • [ ] Internal links resolve (check workflow logs for link validation results)
  • [ ] CDN cache purge triggers when content is published in the editor
  • [ ] R2 bucket permissions are not overly permissive
  • [ ] API token has minimum required Cloudflare permissions

See Also