Cloudflare Workers Development
Build high-performance edge APIs with Workers, KV for caching, and Durable Objects for real-time coordination.
Core Architecture When to Use What Service Use Case Characteristics Workers Request handling, API logic Stateless, 50ms CPU (free), 30s (paid) KV Caching, config, sessions Eventually consistent, fast reads Durable Objects Real-time, coordination Strongly consistent, single-threaded R2 File storage S3-compatible, no egress fees D1 SQLite at edge Serverless SQL, good for reads Worker Fundamentals Basic Worker Structure // src/index.ts export interface Env { MEETING_CACHE: KVNamespace; RATE_LIMIT: KVNamespace; API_KEY: string; }
export default {
async fetch(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext): Promise
// CORS handling
if (request.method === 'OPTIONS') {
return handleCORS();
}
try {
// Route handling
if (url.pathname === '/health') {
return json({ status: 'ok' });
}
if (url.pathname.startsWith('/api/')) {
return handleAPI(request, env, ctx);
}
return new Response('Not Found', { status: 404 });
} catch (error) {
console.error('Worker error:', error);
return json({ error: 'Internal error' }, 500);
}
},
// Cron trigger async scheduled(event: ScheduledEvent, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) { ctx.waitUntil(runScheduledTask(env)); } };
CORS Headers (Essential) const CORS_HEADERS = { 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*', // Or specific origin 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods': 'GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS', 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers': 'Content-Type, Authorization', 'Access-Control-Max-Age': '86400', };
function handleCORS(): Response { return new Response(null, { status: 204, headers: CORS_HEADERS }); }
function json(data: unknown, status = 200): Response { return new Response(JSON.stringify(data), { status, headers: { ...CORS_HEADERS, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', }, }); }
wrangler.toml Configuration name = "my-worker" main = "src/index.ts" compatibility_date = "2024-01-01"
KV Namespaces
[[ kv_namespaces ]] binding = "MEETING_CACHE" id = "abc123..." # Production preview_id = "def456..." # Dev
[[ kv_namespaces ]] binding = "RATE_LIMIT" id = "ghi789..."
Environment variables
[ vars ] CACHE_TTL = "86400" RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS = "100" RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW = "3600"
Secrets (set via wrangler secret put)
API_KEY, DATABASE_URL, etc.
Cron triggers
[ triggers ] crons = ["0 /6 * * "] # Every 6 hours
Custom routes
routes = [{ pattern = "api.example.com/*", zone_name = "example.com" }]
KV Storage Patterns Basic KV Operations // Write with TTL await env.CACHE.put('key', JSON.stringify(data), { expirationTtl: 86400, // 24 hours in seconds });
// Write with metadata await env.CACHE.put('key', value, { expirationTtl: 3600, metadata: { createdAt: Date.now(), source: 'api' }, });
// Read const value = await env.CACHE.get('key'); const parsed = await env.CACHE.get('key', 'json');
// Read with metadata const { value, metadata } = await env.CACHE.getWithMetadata('key', 'json');
// Delete await env.CACHE.delete('key');
// List keys const { keys, cursor } = await env.CACHE.list({ prefix: 'meetings:' });
Geohash-Based Caching import Geohash from 'latlon-geohash';
function getCacheKey(lat: number, lng: number, radius: number): string {
// 3-char geohash = ~150km cells, good for metro areas
const geohash = Geohash.encode(lat, lng, 3);
return meetings:${geohash}:${radius};
}
async function getMeetingsWithCache(
lat: number,
lng: number,
radius: number,
env: Env
): Promise<{ data: Meeting[]; cached: boolean; geohash: string }> {
const geohash = Geohash.encode(lat, lng, 3);
const cacheKey = meetings:${geohash}:${radius};
// Try cache first const cached = await env.MEETING_CACHE.get(cacheKey, 'json'); if (cached) { return { data: cached, cached: true, geohash }; }
// Fetch fresh data const data = await fetchMeetings(lat, lng, radius);
// Cache in background (don't await) env.ctx.waitUntil( env.MEETING_CACHE.put(cacheKey, JSON.stringify(data), { expirationTtl: 86400, metadata: { cachedAt: Date.now(), geohash }, }) );
return { data, cached: false, geohash }; }
Response Headers for Cache Debugging function meetingsResponse(data: Meeting[], cached: boolean, geohash: string): Response { return new Response(JSON.stringify(data), { headers: { ...CORS_HEADERS, 'Content-Type': 'application/json', 'X-Cache': cached ? 'HIT' : 'MISS', 'X-Geohash': geohash, 'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600', }, }); }
Rate Limiting IP-Based Rate Limiting interface RateLimitConfig { maxRequests: number; windowSeconds: number; }
async function checkRateLimit(
ip: string,
env: Env,
config: RateLimitConfig
): Promise<{ allowed: boolean; remaining: number; resetAt: number }> {
const key = rate:${ip};
const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
const windowStart = now - config.windowSeconds;
// Get current state const stored = await env.RATE_LIMIT.get(key, 'json') as { count: number; windowStart: number; } | null;
// New window or expired if (!stored || stored.windowStart < windowStart) { await env.RATE_LIMIT.put(key, JSON.stringify({ count: 1, windowStart: now, }), { expirationTtl: config.windowSeconds });
return {
allowed: true,
remaining: config.maxRequests - 1,
resetAt: now + config.windowSeconds,
};
}
// Within window if (stored.count >= config.maxRequests) { return { allowed: false, remaining: 0, resetAt: stored.windowStart + config.windowSeconds, }; }
// Increment await env.RATE_LIMIT.put(key, JSON.stringify({ count: stored.count + 1, windowStart: stored.windowStart, }), { expirationTtl: config.windowSeconds });
return { allowed: true, remaining: config.maxRequests - stored.count - 1, resetAt: stored.windowStart + config.windowSeconds, }; }
// Usage in handler
async function handleAPI(request: Request, env: Env): Promise
if (!rateLimit.allowed) { return json({ error: 'Rate limit exceeded' }, 429, { 'X-RateLimit-Remaining': '0', 'X-RateLimit-Reset': rateLimit.resetAt.toString(), }); }
// ... handle request }
Durable Objects (Real-Time) Chat Room Example // wrangler.toml // [[durable_objects.bindings]] // name = "CHAT_ROOMS" // class_name = "ChatRoom" // [[migrations]] // tag = "v1" // new_classes = ["ChatRoom"]
export class ChatRoom { state: DurableObjectState; sessions: WebSocket[] = [];
constructor(state: DurableObjectState) { this.state = state; }
async fetch(request: Request): Promise
if (url.pathname === '/websocket') {
if (request.headers.get('Upgrade') !== 'websocket') {
return new Response('Expected WebSocket', { status: 400 });
}
const [client, server] = Object.values(new WebSocketPair());
server.accept();
this.sessions.push(server);
server.addEventListener('message', (event) => {
this.broadcast(event.data as string, server);
});
server.addEventListener('close', () => {
this.sessions = this.sessions.filter(s => s !== server);
});
return new Response(null, { status: 101, webSocket: client });
}
return new Response('Not found', { status: 404 });
}
broadcast(message: string, exclude?: WebSocket) { this.sessions.forEach(session => { if (session !== exclude && session.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) { session.send(message); } }); } }
// In main worker export default { async fetch(request: Request, env: Env) { const url = new URL(request.url);
if (url.pathname.startsWith('/room/')) {
const roomId = url.pathname.split('/')[2];
const id = env.CHAT_ROOMS.idFromName(roomId);
const room = env.CHAT_ROOMS.get(id);
return room.fetch(request);
}
} };
Deployment & Debugging Commands
Development
npx wrangler dev # Local dev server npx wrangler dev --remote # Dev against real KV/DO
Deployment
npx wrangler deploy # Deploy to production npx wrangler deploy --env staging # Deploy to staging
Secrets
npx wrangler secret put API_KEY # Set secret npx wrangler secret list # List secrets
KV Management
npx wrangler kv:key list --namespace-id=xxx npx wrangler kv:key get --namespace-id=xxx "key" npx wrangler kv:key delete --namespace-id=xxx "key"
Logs
npx wrangler tail # Real-time logs npx wrangler tail --format=pretty # Formatted output
Error Codes Code Meaning 1101 Worker threw exception 1102 CPU time limit exceeded 1015 Rate limited by Cloudflare 524 Origin timeout (>100s) Quick Reference // Get client IP const ip = request.headers.get('CF-Connecting-IP');
// Get country const country = request.cf?.country;
// Background task (won't block response) ctx.waitUntil(doBackgroundWork());
// Streaming response return new Response(readableStream, { headers: { 'Content-Type': 'text/event-stream' } });
// Proxy request const response = await fetch(upstreamUrl, request); return new Response(response.body, response);
Anti-Patterns ❌ Awaiting KV writes in hot path // ❌ ANTI-PATTERN: Blocks response on cache write async function handler(request: Request, env: Env) { const data = await fetchData(); await env.CACHE.put('key', data); // Unnecessary wait! return json(data); }
// ✅ CORRECT: Background write with waitUntil async function handler(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) { const data = await fetchData(); ctx.waitUntil(env.CACHE.put('key', data)); // Non-blocking return json(data); }
❌ Missing CORS handling // ❌ ANTI-PATTERN: No preflight handling = broken browser requests export default { async fetch(request: Request) { return json({ data: 'hello' }); // OPTIONS requests fail! } }
// ✅ CORRECT: Handle OPTIONS preflight export default { async fetch(request: Request) { if (request.method === 'OPTIONS') { return new Response(null, { status: 204, headers: CORS_HEADERS }); } return json({ data: 'hello' }); } }
❌ Secrets in wrangler.toml
❌ ANTI-PATTERN: Secrets in config (committed to git!)
[ vars ] API_KEY = "sk-live-xxxxx"
✅ CORRECT: Use wrangler secret
Run: npx wrangler secret put API_KEY
Access: env.API_KEY
❌ Ignoring KV eventual consistency // ❌ ANTI-PATTERN: Read immediately after write await env.KV.put('count', String(newCount)); const verify = await env.KV.get('count'); // May return old value!
// ✅ CORRECT: Trust write succeeded, or use Durable Objects for consistency await env.KV.put('count', String(newCount)); return json({ count: newCount }); // Return what you wrote
❌ Blocking on external APIs without timeout // ❌ ANTI-PATTERN: External API can hang your worker const data = await fetch('https://slow-api.com/data');
// ✅ CORRECT: Add timeout with AbortController const controller = new AbortController(); const timeout = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 5000); try { const data = await fetch('https://slow-api.com/data', { signal: controller.signal }); } finally { clearTimeout(timeout); }
References
See /references/ for detailed guides:
kv-patterns.md - Advanced KV usage patterns durable-objects.md - Real-time features with DO debugging.md - Troubleshooting common issues