Give Claude Code control of your Cloudflare account

Wire Claude Code into Cloudflare once, and it can read your account, change settings, deploy Workers and read live logs, all from the terminal. Here is the full setup, done safely.

$ curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

$ cd ~/path/to/your-project
$ claude

> /plugin marketplace add cloudflare/skills

> /plugin install cloudflare@cloudflare

> /mcp

$ claude mcp list

> List the zones on my Cloudflare account and their plans.

> Create a KV namespace called scratch-test, then show me how to delete it again.

> Deploy this Worker to Cloudflare and give me the live URL.

The three parts, briefly

Worth understanding, so you know which part is doing what when something needs a nudge.

Code Mode: how one server covers the whole API

The main Cloudflare API MCP server (at https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp) reaches over 2,500 endpoints across DNS, Workers, R2, Zero Trust and the rest. It does this without drowning the model in tool definitions, using a technique Cloudflare calls Code Mode: instead of one tool per endpoint, it exposes just two, search() and execute(), and Claude writes a little JavaScript against a typed copy of the API. The code runs in an isolated sandbox.

The payoff is in the token cost:

Roughly a thousand tokens for the entire API, instead of more than the context window of most models. Source: Cloudflare docs.

The MCP server menu

The plugin sets up the core servers for you. If you want a specific one, or prefer to wire things up by hand, here are the main hosted servers and how to add them.

A selection. The full catalogue (AI Gateway, Logpush, Containers, CASB and others) is in Cloudflare’s docs, linked at the foot of this page.

Add a server by hand

To register one from the command line, give it a name, the HTTP transport and its URL:

$ claude mcp add --transport http cloudflare https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp

Add a focused one the same way, for example observability:

$ claude mcp add --transport http cf-observability https://observability.mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp

Or set it in a project’s .mcp.json so your whole team gets it:

{
  // .mcp.json
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloudflare-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

These servers speak the current streamable-http transport at the /mcp path. The older /sse path still works but is deprecated, so prefer /mcp.

Deploys, and the token gotcha

The MCP servers cover the API. Building and shipping Workers is Wrangler’s job, and it has one authentication wrinkle worth knowing.

Claude reaches for Wrangler automatically for local dev and deploys. The commands it runs look like this:

$ npx wrangler whoami            # who am I signed in as?
$ npx wrangler deploy             # ship the Worker
$ npx wrangler tail               # stream live logs
$ npx wrangler d1 migrations apply my-db

For interactive use, wrangler login signs you in through the browser, the same idea as the MCP OAuth flow.

$ export CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN=your_token_here
$ export CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID=your_account_id   # if you have several accounts

Access without OAuth: scoped API tokens

For CI/CD, a headless server, or simply tighter control over what the agent can touch, a scoped API token is the right tool. OAuth is convenient on your own machine; a token is precise and portable.

1. Go to dash.cloudflare.com/profile/api-tokens and choose Create Token.
2. Pick a template (for example Edit Cloudflare Workers) or Custom token for exact control.
3. Grant only the permissions the job needs. Under Account Resources and Zone Resources, scope it to the specific account or zone, not “all”.
4. Optionally restrict it by client IP and set a time-to-live, sensible for automation.
5. Create it, then copy the secret immediately. Cloudflare shows it once. Store it in a password manager.

Then hand it to whichever tool needs it. For Wrangler, the CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN environment variable above. For the MCP server, pass it as a bearer token so no browser is needed:

$ claude mcp add --transport http cloudflare https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN"

User tokens vs account tokens

A user token is tied to you personally. An account token (its secret is prefixed cfat_) is tied to the account and keeps working even if a person leaves the team, which makes it the better choice for shared services and CI. Both are accepted by Wrangler and the MCP servers.

Security: sensible habits with tokens

You are handing an agent the keys to live infrastructure. A few habits keep that safe.

• Least privilege. Grant only the scopes a task needs. A token that just edits DNS should not be able to deploy Workers.
• Never commit a token. Keep it out of git and out of shared files. Use environment variables or a secrets manager, not a line in a config you might push.
• One token per purpose or machine. Separate tokens mean you can revoke one without breaking everything else.
• Use TTLs and IP restrictions for automation. A CI token that only works from your build server’s IP, and expires, is a small blast radius.
• OAuth for you, tokens for machines. On your own laptop, OAuth stores no secret you can leak. Save tokens for headless and shared use.
• Roll on any doubt. The secret shows once. If you lose it or suspect it leaked, delete and recreate it at the same dashboard page.
• Approve before it acts. Keep reading Claude’s planned actions before approving, particularly for anything destructive.

Check it actually works

Four quick proofs that the connection is real, not just configured.

• claude mcp list (or /mcp inside Claude Code) shows the Cloudflare servers as connected.
• A read-only question (“List my Cloudflare zones”) returns your real data, not a generic answer.
• A small, reversible change (create then delete a test KV namespace) succeeds, proving write access and your comfort with approving it.
• From a project folder, a Worker deploy lands in your Cloudflare dashboard.

Troubleshooting

The handful of things that actually go wrong, and the fix for each.

$ claude mcp remove cloudflare
$ claude mcp add --transport http cloudflare https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp

$ npx wrangler whoami --json     # lists your account ids
$ export CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID=the_right_id