How to Link Your Website to Cloudflare

Before you start

Cloudflare is a free service that makes your website faster and more secure. Think of it as a protective layer between your visitors and your website.

It also gives you a place to manage your DNS, which is the system that connects your domain name (like yourbusiness.com) to the actual website files. When someone types your web address, DNS is what points them to the right place.

You don't need to understand how DNS works behind the scenes. You just need to know that Cloudflare is where you'll manage it.

Good news. Cloudflare has a free plan that's more than enough for most small businesses. Workers Paid is only $5/month if you need it for custom apps.

Estimated time: about 20 minutes.

Step 1, Create a Cloudflare account

1. Open this page: dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up
2. Enter your email address and create a password
3. Check your inbox and click the link to verify your email

Tip. Use your business email if you have one. It keeps things organized.

Step 2, Add your domain

1. Open this page: dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/add-site (Cloudflare will send you to login first if needed, then drop you right on the Add-a-site form)
2. Type in your domain name (for example, yourbusiness.com). Just the main domain, not a specific page URL.
3. Select the Free plan and click Continue
4. Cloudflare will scan your existing DNS records and show you what it found
5. Review the records. If everything looks right, click Continue

Important. Don't delete any records Cloudflare found unless you know exactly what they do. These records are what make your email, website, and other services work. Deleting the wrong one could take your email or website offline.

Step 3, Update your nameservers

This is the most important step. Cloudflare will give you two nameservers. They look something like anna.ns.cloudflare.com and bob.ns.cloudflare.com.

You need to go to the company where you bought your domain (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and replace the current nameservers with the ones Cloudflare gave you.

1. Log into the website where you purchased your domain (your domain registrar)
2. Find Nameservers or DNS Servers in your domain settings, usually under Domain Management
3. Switch from the default nameservers to Custom nameservers
4. Paste in the two Cloudflare nameservers
5. Save the changes

Heads up. This change can take up to 24 hours to fully take effect. Don't worry if your site looks the same for a while, that's normal. Most of the time it happens within an hour or two.

Step 4, Verify and configure

1. Go back to Cloudflare and click Check nameservers (or just wait, Cloudflare checks automatically every few hours)
2. Once verified, you'll see a green checkmark and an Active status next to your domain
3. Cloudflare will walk you through some recommended settings. The defaults are fine for most people, so you can click through them.

What this means. Once your domain is active on Cloudflare, you manage all your DNS records here instead of at your old registrar. Any new subdomains, email changes, or website updates go through the Cloudflare dashboard from now on.

Step 5, Activate Workers Paid

If Jeanette is going to deploy a custom app or tool on your Cloudflare account (like a chatbot, a member portal, or a practice space), Cloudflare needs you to be on the Workers Paid plan first. The plan starts at $5 per month.

Why? Cloudflare's free Workers plan is great for tiny things, but it doesn't include access to the database (called D1) that most real apps need. Adding the $5 unlocks D1 and a bunch of other useful features. For most small business apps, you'll never go above the $5 minimum.

1. Open this page: dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/workers-and-pages/plans (Cloudflare will send you to login first if needed, then drop you right on the Workers plans page)
2. Find the Workers Paid plan and click Subscribe or Upgrade
3. Enter your payment information (credit card or debit card)
4. Confirm the subscription

Good to know. You'll be charged $5 right now and then $5 per month going forward. Most clients never go above this base amount. If you ever do, Cloudflare warns you well in advance.

If a deployment fails with an error about "D1 not enabled" or "subscription required," this is the step you're missing.

Step 6, Enable R2 Storage

R2 is where your app stores files like images, uploads, or documents. It's included with your Workers Paid plan, but you need to activate it.

1. Open this page: dash.cloudflare.com/?to=/:account/r2/overview (Cloudflare will send you to login first if needed, then drop you right on the R2 overview)
2. Click Get Started or Activate R2 (the exact button depends on your account)
3. Accept the terms and confirm

That's it. You don't need to create any buckets or configure anything else. Jeanette's tools will handle the rest when they need to store files.

Good to know. R2 includes 10 GB of storage for free. Most small business apps use a tiny fraction of that. You won't be charged extra unless you store a lot of large files, and Cloudflare will warn you before that happens.

Step 7, Create an API token

If you want Jeanette (or a tool like Claude Code) to deploy things to your Cloudflare account on your behalf, you'll need to create an API token. Think of it like a hotel key card. It's a secret code that lets a specific tool do specific things on your account, without needing your full password.

1. Open this page: dash.cloudflare.com/profile/api-tokens (Cloudflare will send you to login first if needed, then drop you right on your API Tokens page)

2. Click the blue Create Token button

3. You'll see a list of templates. Find Edit Cloudflare Workers and click Use template

4. The template fills in most of what's needed, but three permissions are missing. Scroll to the bottom of the Permissions list and click + Add more three times, setting one row each time (the first dropdown is the group, the second is the permission, the third is the access level):

   • Account → D1 → Edit
   • Zone → DNS → Edit
   • Zone → SSL and Certificates → Edit

   D1 is the database. Without it the build will stop partway through with a permissions error, so it's worth the extra thirty seconds now.

5. Under Account Resources, leave it as All accounts (or pick your account from the dropdown)

6. Under Zone Resources, leave it as All zones

7. Click Continue to summary

8. Review the summary and click Create Token

9. Cloudflare will show you the token one time only. Copy it immediately and paste it somewhere safe.

Important. You will only see the token ONCE. The moment you leave that page, it's hidden forever. If you lose it, you can't look it up again, you have to generate a new one. Copy it as soon as it appears.

Good to know. The token is a long string of random letters and numbers. It's a password, so treat it like one. You can also share your Account ID (visible on the right side of your Workers & Pages overview page) if asked, that one is not a secret.

Verify it worked

Your domain shows Active in your Cloudflare dashboard, you have Workers Paid enabled (if needed), and you've copied your API token somewhere safe. You're ready to deploy.

Need to add a subdomain next? See How to Set Up a Subdomain.