Start a new website on Cloudflare Workers, with or without GitHub

The plan: a simple site live on a free workers.dev address within minutes, the free apps on it, and your own domain later. Everything runs on the Cloudflare free plan.

The owner's part: answer two or three questions and, depending on the route, sign up or click Allow once. The agent's part: everything else.

0. Ask two things (agent)

1. "What's the site for, in a sentence? A business page, a portfolio, a waitlist for a product?" Use it to write the first page; keep it short and let the owner edit later.
2. "Do you have a GitHub account?" Check yourself first with gh auth status and git remote -v. GitHub is optional. With it, the site redeploys on every push. Without it, you deploy from this computer.

Then check Cloudflare: npx wrangler whoami.

1. Make the site (agent, about 2 minutes)

Two good starting points:

Plain static site with Astro (recommended for the free apps). Static sites are the simplest install path.

npm create astro@latest my-site -- --template minimal --no-install --no-git --skip-houston
cd my-site && npm install

Add a Wrangler config at the project root, wrangler.jsonc:

{
  "name": "my-site",                 // becomes my-site.<your-subdomain>.workers.dev
  "compatibility_date": "2026-11-02", // today's date
  "assets": { "directory": "./dist" }
}

No main and no Astro adapter: a static site needs no Worker code (Astro on Workers). The site-apps install adds the small Worker the apps need.

Or the Cloudflare scaffolder for any framework (React, Vue, Next.js, Astro and more). It creates a Workers project by default and can deploy at the end:

npm create cloudflare@latest -- my-site --framework=astro --no-deploy

Flags: --framework picks the framework, --platform=pages makes a Pages project instead (Workers is the default), --no-deploy and --no-git skip those steps, -y accepts defaults (create-cloudflare). Framework templates may add a server adapter; the install guide supports Astro with @astrojs/cloudflare and Next.js with OpenNext, but plain static is fewer moving parts.

Before you deploy, add a 404 page (src/pages/404.astro using the site's layout). Without one, unknown URLs return the home page with status 200, and redirects and the 404 monitor can't work.

Check it builds: npm run build should create dist/ with index.html and 404.html.

2. Put it live

Route A: with GitHub, deploys on every push

1. Create the repo and push (agent):

   TerminalCopy

   git init -b main && git add -A && git commit -m "First version of the site"
   gh repo create my-site --private --source=. --push
   

   No gh? The owner creates an empty private repo at https://github.com/new, then you git remote add origin <url> and git push -u origin main.

2. First deploy (agent): npx wrangler deploy after npm run build. It prints the live address, https://my-site.<subdomain>.workers.dev.

3. Connect Workers Builds so each push deploys (owner, about 2 minutes). Tell them:

   • Cloudflare dashboard → Workers & Pages → select my-site → Settings → Builds → Connect.
   • Pick GitHub, sign in to GitHub if asked and allow Cloudflare to see the repo, then select my-site.
   • Build command: npm run build. Deploy command: leave the default, npx wrangler deploy. Branch: main.
   • Save.

   The Worker's name in the dashboard must match name in wrangler.jsonc, or the build fails. Other branches get preview builds with their own preview address.

4. Check (agent): push a small change, wait about a minute, then curl -s https://my-site.<subdomain>.workers.dev | grep "<the change>". The build log is under the Worker → Deployments (or Builds) in the dashboard.

Source: Workers Builds, build configuration.

Route B: no GitHub, deploy from this computer

npm run build && npx wrangler deploy

That's the whole deploy. Run the same two commands after every change. git init locally is still a good idea (it makes every change easy to undo), but nothing has to be online. You can connect GitHub later with Route A step 3.

Route C: no Cloudflare account yet (temporary account)

Cloudflare lets an agent deploy before anyone signs up. The deploy gets a claim link; the owner has 60 minutes to open it and sign up or sign in, or Cloudflare deletes it.

npx wrangler@latest --version   # must be 4.102.0 or later
npm run build && npx wrangler deploy --temporary

• Works only when Wrangler has no credentials (no login, no CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN).
• Supports Workers on workers.dev, static assets (up to 1,000 files, 5 MiB each) and one D1 database up to 100 MB, which is what the apps use. R2 isn't supported, and the docs don't mention custom domains.
• Give the owner the claim link straight away: "Open this within the hour and sign up (free) to keep your site. Opening it isn't enough; finish the sign-up." Then help with email verification (account playbook, step 2).
• After they claim it, the site and its database stay. Log in for future deploys: npx wrangler login (or --device in a cloud agent), then deploy without --temporary.

Temporary accounts are new (June 2026) and Cloudflare says their capabilities may change: re-check the page before relying on a detail.

Source: Deploy without an account (claim deployments).

3. Add the free apps (agent, about 10 minutes)

The free apps are a forms inbox (contact form, spam filter, email notifications) and a health page for the site and its apps.

1. Connect the store's MCP server if it isn't already, and claim the free apps (claim_free_app; the owner signs in once in the browser). get_download with the site's workers.dev address: test addresses are covered.
2. Unzip as site-apps/ and follow site-apps/INSTALL.md. This site is "Workers, static, has a Wrangler config": step 4 → Workers. The database is created on deploy.
3. Admin sign-in: for a new owner, the passkey sign-in (install guide 7a) avoids Cloudflare Zero Trust, whose setup asks for card details even on the free plan.
4. Check: curl -s https://my-site.<subdomain>.workers.dev/.well-known/site-apps.json shows "ok": true.
5. First win: put a contact form on the home page, send a test message, and show the owner it arrived in the admin inbox.

4. Your own domain, later

workers.dev is fine to start, but Cloudflare calls it "intended for personal or hobby projects that aren't business-critical" and recommends a custom domain for production (workers.dev).

1. The domain's DNS must be on Cloudflare (an active zone). If it isn't: Move your domain's DNS to Cloudflare. The site keeps working on workers.dev while you wait.
2. Then the owner (or agent, with access): Workers & Pages → the Worker → Settings → Domains & Routes → Add → Custom Domain → type example.com → Add Custom Domain. Or add to wrangler.jsonc: "routes": [{ "pattern": "example.com", "custom_domain": true }] and deploy. Do www.example.com too if wanted.
3. Cloudflare creates the DNS record and the certificate. It refuses if the hostname already has a CNAME record: delete that first (after checking what it was for).
4. Check: curl -sI https://example.com returns 200, then the .well-known/site-apps.json check on the real domain. Download the apps for the real domain from the store so the license covers it.

Source: Workers custom domains.

When it fails

Not available yet

A one-click Deploy to Cloudflare starter with the free apps preinstalled is planned but not published (it needs a public template repo). Use the steps above.