cfld

cfld = cloudflare local dev.

One command to give your localhost a permanent public HTTPS URL — no API tokens, no teardown.

cfld wraps cloudflared into a frictionless dev experience: the same custom URL every run (not a random trycloudflare.com one), authorized with a browser login (zero API tokens), reusing the same named tunnel and DNS record across restarts instead of churning them. It runs a live dashboard (URL, connection count, request/latency counters, tailing logs), auto-reconnects on edge blips, and guards against stealing a DNS record that belongs to another tunnel.

Getting started

New here? Just run this — it walks you through everything, no account or config needed to start:

npx @cliftonc/cfld setup

setup is the front door. It checks cloudflared for you, then lets you pick:

1. A public URL right now — free, no account, no domain (a temporary trycloudflare.com URL). Great for a webhook, a demo, or just trying it.
2. A persistent custom URL — opens the browser to sign in (or sign up — it's free), then wires up the same URL for every future run.

You don't even have to remember setup: the first time you run bare cfld in a fresh project, it drops you into this same guided flow so you're never stuck guessing.

Already know what you want? Skip straight to it:

# instant public URL in seconds — no account, no config
npx @cliftonc/cfld --quick 3000   # temporary trycloudflare.com URL

# the everyday command — reuse-or-create your persistent tunnel and go live
npx @cliftonc/cfld            # detect your dev port, go live on the same URL
npx @cliftonc/cfld 3000       # explicit port

# or install once and use the short `cfld` command everywhere
npm i -g @cliftonc/cfld
cfld setup

What it costs

cfld is built to get you going at zero → near-zero cost, and it's honest about the one thing it can't automate:

• Instant URL — cfld --quick: free, no account, no domain. The URL is temporary and changes each run.
• Cloudflare account — free. cfld opens the browser to sign in (the same page has a Sign up link); there's no API token to create. Account signup itself can't be scripted — Cloudflare requires a browser, terms acceptance, and email verification.
• Persistent custom URL — needs a domain on Cloudflare. Free if you already own one (just add the site); otherwise a domain is a few dollars/year via Cloudflare Registrar. No account has a free permanent subdomain.

Why not just cloudflared?

The persistent-tunnel flow normally means: create an API token in the dashboard, find your zone/account IDs, tunnel create, hand-write a config.yml, route dns, and remember not to delete anything. cfld collapses all of that into one idempotent command and adds the dev niceties (auto port detection, deterministic hostname, .env write-back, a live status view).

Compared to the alternatives:

• untun — random URLs only (quick tunnels). cfld gives you a stable one.
• cf-tunnel — needs an API token and tears the tunnel + DNS down on exit. cfld uses browser login and preserves resources so the URL is truly persistent.
• @agencyhandy/tunneler — global install + API token + zone id. cfld is npx-first and zero-token.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18
• A domain on Cloudflare (nameservers pointed at Cloudflare) for a persistent custom URL. Don't have one yet? cfld guides you, and cfld --quick works immediately with an ephemeral URL.
• cloudflared — used from your PATH if present, otherwise auto-downloaded via the optional cloudflared npm package.

How it works

Every run reconciles four things, treating Cloudflare as the source of truth and local files as a cache:

1. Cert — per-domain cert stored at ~/.cfld/certs/<zone>.pem, obtained once via cloudflared tunnel login (browser, no token) and selected with --origincert so multiple domains coexist on one machine.
2. Tunnel — reused by name (cfld-<slug>) if it exists, created only if absent. Never deleted on exit.
3. DNS — route dns --overwrite-dns points <slug>.<zone> at the tunnel (idempotent).
4. Config — a generated ingress file + your public URL written into ./.env (PUBLIC_URL by default).

A machine-wide registry at ~/.cfld/registry.json indexes every tunnel, so you can manage them from anywhere.

Commands

Options

--name <slug>     Override the project name (default: package.json name / dir)
--host <fqdn>     Explicit public hostname (e.g. api.example.com)
--zone <domain>   Cloudflare domain to use (e.g. example.com)
--env <KEY>       .env key to write the URL to (default: PUBLIC_URL)
--no-env          Don't write the URL to .env
--force           Skip confirmation (destroy)

Configuration (optional)

Everything is inferred by default, but you can commit intent to package.json under a "cfld" key. Authored values win over the machine-local .cfld.json cache (so edits take effect immediately); only the resolved tunnel UUID comes from the cache.

{
  "cfld": {
    "zone": "example.com",
    "name": "myapp",          // → myapp.example.com
    "envKey": "PUBLIC_URL"
  }
}

Multiple services from one tunnel (multi-ingress)

Expose an API and a web app at once with a routes array:

{
  "cfld": {
    "zone": "example.com",
    "routes": [
      { "name": "app", "port": 3000 },                 // app.example.com → :3000
      { "name": "api", "port": 8080, "path": "/v1" },  // api.example.com/v1 → :8080
      { "host": "hooks.example.com", "port": 4000 }    // explicit hostname
    ]
  }
}

The first route is the primary (used for the dashboard and .env). Every hostname is routed and DNS-guarded.

Always-on service

The foreground cfld is the dev default. To keep a tunnel up across logout/reboot, install it as a background service (macOS LaunchAgent / Linux systemd user unit):

cfld service install      # register + start
cfld service status
cfld service uninstall    # stop + remove (tunnel + DNS preserved)

Windows service management is not supported — run cfld in the foreground there.

Running alongside your dev server

Give cfld your dev command after a -- and it runs both as one managed unit:

cfld 3000 -- next dev

cfld will:

• boot your dev server as a managed child, with PUBLIC_URL already in its environment (so it can read its own public URL for webhooks/OAuth callbacks — no .env round-trip needed);
• wait for :3000 to actually listen before flipping to ● LIVE, so the URL never serves a 502 the moment you reveal it;
• stream your dev server's logs into the same dashboard as the tunnel — one unified view;
• stop both on a single Ctrl-C, gracefully, leaving the tunnel + DNS intact so the next run reuses the same URL;
• exit if your dev server exits, propagating its exit code (the tunnel is still preserved).

The pass-through form (-- <cmd>) runs your command directly. If you need shell features (pipes, &&, globs), use the string form instead:

cfld 5173 --exec "npm run dev"

This works with --quick too, when you don't have a domain set up yet:

cfld --quick 3000 -- next dev

Wire it into package.json so the whole team gets the same public URL:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "next dev",
    "dev:tunnel": "cfld 3000 -- next dev"
  }
}

Tip: commit a "cfld": { "zone": "example.com", "name": "myapp" } block to package.json so the URL is deterministic for the whole team — everyone's dev:tunnel maps to myapp.example.com.

"dev:tunnel": "concurrently -k -n app,cfld -c blue,magenta \"npm:dev\" \"cfld 3000\""

Development

npm install
npm run build      # tsup → dist/
npm test           # vitest unit + integration tests
npm run typecheck  # tsc --noEmit

The primary end-to-end check needs no domain or paid plan: cfld --quick against a local server, then fetch the resulting URL and assert the response round-trips through Cloudflare's edge.

License

MIT