# Architecting on Cloudflare

> Decisions, Trade-offs, and Patterns for the Developer Platform

By Jamie Lord. Independent analysis; not official Cloudflare documentation.

Use the introduction's platform-state note when assessing time-sensitive advice.
The complete book may exceed a tool's context or fetch limit; use individual chapters for focused questions.

## Complete book

- [Full book in Markdown](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/downloads/architecting-on-cloudflare.md)
- [Full book in plain text](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/llms-full.txt)

## Chapters in reading order

- [Architecting on Cloudflare](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/intro.md): Decisions, Trade-offs, and Patterns for the Developer Platform
- [Chapter 1: The Cloudflare Developer Platform](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-01.md): What makes Cloudflare architecturally different, and why does it matter?
- [Chapter 2: Strategic Assessment](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-02.md): Should we adopt the Cloudflare Developer Platform, and what are the implications?
- [Chapter 3: Workers: The Core Compute Primitive](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-03.md): How do Workers actually work, and how do I use them effectively?
- [Chapter 4: Full-Stack Applications](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-04.md): How do I build and deploy a full-stack application with server-side rendering and static assets?
- [Chapter 5: Local Development, Testing, and Debugging](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-05.md): How do I develop, test, and debug Workers effectively before deploying?
- [Chapter 6: Building with Coding Agents](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-06.md): How do we use coding agents to explore, build and maintain Cloudflare applications well?
- [Chapter 7: Durable Objects: Stateful Compute at the Edge](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-07.md): How do I build applications that need coordination, real-time updates, or consistent state?
- [Chapter 8: Workflows: Durable Execution](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-08.md): How do I build processes that must complete even if individual steps fail?
- [Chapter 9: Queues: Asynchronous Processing](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-09.md): How do I handle work that doesn't need immediate response?
- [Chapter 10: Containers: Beyond V8 Isolates](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-10.md): What do I do when Workers' constraints genuinely don't fit?
- [Chapter 11: Realtime: Audio and Video at the Edge](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-11.md): How do I build applications with real-time audio and video?
- [Chapter 12: Choosing the Right Storage](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-12.md): Where should I store this data, and what trade-offs am I making?
- [Chapter 13: D1: SQLite at the Edge](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-13.md): Can D1 replace my PostgreSQL/MySQL, and when should I use it?
- [Chapter 14: R2: Object Storage Without Egress Fees](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-14.md): How much can we actually save with R2, and when does it matter?
- [Chapter 15: KV and Hyperdrive](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-15.md): How do I cache effectively and connect to existing databases?
- [Chapter 16: The AI Stack on Cloudflare](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-16.md): Can we build AI-powered applications on Cloudflare, and what's the architecture?
- [Chapter 17: Workers AI: Inference at the Edge](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-17.md): How do I run AI inference, and what are the trade-offs?
- [Chapter 18: Building RAG Applications](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-18.md): How do I build applications that combine search with generation?
- [Chapter 19: AI Agents and Advanced Patterns](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-19.md): How do I build AI agents that can take actions and maintain state?
- [Chapter 20: Cost Modelling and Optimisation](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-20.md): What will this actually cost, and how do we optimise?
- [Chapter 21: Observability and Operations](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-21.md): How do I know what's happening in production and respond to issues?
- [Chapter 22: Security, Compliance, and Deployment](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-22.md): How do we meet security and compliance requirements?
- [Chapter 23: Designing for Failure and Recovery](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-23.md): How do I keep the application useful during a partial failure, and restore correct service afterwards?
- [Chapter 24: Architectural Patterns and Reference Designs](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-24.md): What patterns should I follow for common architectural challenges?
- [Chapter 25: Multi-Tenant and Platform Architectures](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-25.md): How do I build a platform that serves multiple tenants securely and efficiently?
- [Chapter 26: When Not to Use Cloudflare](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-26.md): When is Cloudflare the wrong choice?
- [Chapter 27: Migration Playbooks](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-27.md): How do I move existing workloads to Cloudflare, and when should I?
- [Chapter 28: Building on Cloudflare](https://architectingoncloudflare.com/markdown/chapter-28.md): The mental models that matter and the path forward