Contents
This blog is published using a service called Cloudflare.
Which, said like that, explains nothing. Until recently I was in exactly that position:
- "I've heard the name, but what does the company do?"
- "Is it a server thing? A security thing?"
- "You can publish a website for free? How?"
So this time, for anyone who has never built a website, here's what Cloudflare actually is, based on using it.
I'll avoid jargon where I can. The unavoidable terms are quarantined inside collapsible sections and a glossary at the end. Open the ones where you think "what even is that".
Where does a website actually live?
A blog or a company's home page isn't floating in mid-air.
The text and images you make have to sit on a computer connected to the internet. When someone comes to look, that computer sends the data to them. That computer — the one holding the data and delivering it to visitors — is what people call a server.
Setting up a dedicated computer at home and keeping it running 24 hours a day is a hassle, so normally you rent from a company that provides servers. That's shared hosting. If you've run a WordPress blog, think of the providers you used.
So is Cloudflare a company that rents servers?
At the simplest level, saying yes isn't wrong. The mechanism is a bit different, though.
Ordinary shared hosting is like renting a room in a building somewhere. Cloudflare has many locations around the world and delivers your data from a location close to the visitor.
It's the difference between a shop that only exists in Tokyo and a nationwide chain. Tokyo-only means a slow delivery to someone far away. A nationwide chain delivers from the branch near them. Cloudflare rents out that network of delivery points to companies and individuals.
For anyone going "CDN what now" (you can skip this and keep reading)
Cloudflare originally specialised in helping websites hosted elsewhere get delivered quickly and safely. It sits between the site and the visitor, speeding up display and blocking dangerous traffic. The technical term for that is a CDN.
You don't need to memorise it now. "A mechanism that delivers a site's data from a location near the viewer" is plenty.
The confusing part is that today's Cloudflare is no longer just a delivery helper. You can now put your site inside Cloudflare, run programs, store images. In cooking terms, it used to be the delivery company for finished dishes; now it also rents you the kitchen, the warehouse and the order book. That's why "so what kind of company is it?" is hard to answer.
Why I tried Cloudflare
Fairly simple: I wanted to build websites and small tools myself, in conversation with an AI.
Previously, building a site meant studying programming, understanding servers and doing a lot of configuration by hand. Now you can build while asking an AI: "I want a blog like this", "fix this part", "tell me what settings publishing needs". Building this way, without being a programmer, sometimes gets called vibe coding. This blog is built that way.
And Cloudflare was the place I picked to publish what I built with AI, at almost no cost.
How is it different from shared hosting or Vercel?
Compared by who it suits rather than by detailed specs.
| Service | What it is | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Renting a place to run WordPress and similar | People who want to skip the hard parts and focus on writing |
| Vercel | Easy publishing for the sites and apps you build | People with web development experience, teams |
| Cloudflare | Publishing, storage and domain management in one place | People who want to build a lot with AI, cheaply |
None of these is objectively best. If writing posts from the WordPress admin screen is all you need, shared hosting is simpler. If you're like me — no budget, wanting to build various things alongside an AI — Cloudflare is a genuinely interesting option.
What are Workers, D1 and R2?
Open the Cloudflare dashboard and you're met with a wall of unfamiliar names. Workers, D1, R2. It's fine. You don't need to memorise them yet.
"The place that runs your site, the place that records information, the warehouse for images — all of it can be set up inside Cloudflare." That's enough for now. This blog is currently published with the mechanism called Workers.
For anyone who wants a bit more detail
Only the ones this blog uses (or plans to), translated into plain words.
| Cloudflare name | In plain words | Role on this blog |
|---|---|---|
| Workers | The place that runs the site | Builds pages and delivers them to readers (we are here) |
| D1 | The place that records information | Storing post data (later) |
| R2 | The warehouse for files | Storing images and 3D data (later) |
Is it really free?
As I write this, the blog runs at zero yen. Cloudflare has a free tier, and a personal blog or small site can run on it for quite a while.
Obviously, a huge traffic spike or a pile of video could start costing money. But it isn't something that charges you significantly from day one.
The only thing I paid for separately is the address, hanageruge.com: a few thousand yen a year. The land is free to borrow; you buy the nameplate yourself.
How this blog became hanageruge.com
At first the blog was published on a long URL Cloudflare assigned temporarily. Hard to remember, so I attached my own address, hanageruge.com. With the AI walking me through it, the setup itself finished faster than expected.
And then something strange happened. My phone showed the new blog, while my Mac at home kept showing the old site.
The cause: the internet's directory information — "go to this address and you get this site" — takes time to propagate worldwide. I knew about this, so I could shrug and wait. If you don't know, you assume you broke the configuration and start touching things.
For anyone connecting a domain for the first time, or moving a site: seeing the old page right after the switch is not a failure. Touch nothing and wait a few hours. That usually fixes it.
For anyone going "DNS, here comes another acronym"
That address-directory system is DNS. Difficult name, but the role is close to an address book or a car navigation system.
When you move house, not every navigation system gets your new address at the same moment. Same here: right after a site moves, some devices have the new directions and some are still reading an old note. Which is why my phone had the new site and my Mac had the old one.
The problem of AI giving you outdated information
Search for Cloudflare and the name "Pages" comes up a lot. Today's Cloudflare also talks about "Workers". Both look like ways to publish a site, and I got thoroughly confused here.
The explanation: Pages used to be the main path, and for new projects Workers is now recommended. A generational handover. The internet is full of articles from the earlier era, and AI will sometimes walk you through the old way because of them.
So when I ask an AI to do work, I add: check the current official documentation before deciding the steps. That helps well beyond Cloudflare. AI explains things with great confidence, and confidence isn't currency for "still correct".
Honestly: isn't this scary?
Some of you may be thinking: touching servers and DNS while not really understanding, guided by an AI — isn't that frightening?
It is, yes.
But charging ahead without knowing where the fear belongs is more frightening. So I move carefully. Before an operation whose consequences I can't predict, I stop, ask the AI, and only touch it once I'm satisfied. I'll keep writing about what that caution looks like as the series goes on.
The security conversation — the "wait, is this actually safe?" problem — gets its own instalment as part 3.
Words that came up
The jargon from this post, gathered. There's also Hanageruge's AI glossary (Japanese only for now) if you forget one later.
- Server: the computer that holds a site's text and images and delivers them to visitors
- Cloudflare: a company that lends you delivery infrastructure and a place to run your site
- CDN: delivering a site's data from a location near the viewer. No need to memorise it yet
- Domain: an address on the internet, like "hanageruge.com"
- DNS: the directory that turns a domain into "show this site"
- Workers: Cloudflare's mechanism for running sites and small programs
So who is it for?
Cloudflare is not a universally recommended service. If all you want is to write a blog, WordPress and shared hosting are easier to follow.
On the other hand, if you:
- want to try building a website yourself, with AI
- want to build small tools as well as posts
- want to start with as little money as possible
then it's a genuinely fun playground. I am not a programmer. I still built this blog with an AI, attached my own domain and published it.
Where this series goes
This series records building the blog with AI, from a beginner's point of view. Not only what worked: also the words I didn't understand, the times the AI led me the wrong way, and the settings I actually tripped over.
- Part 2: just try it. Handing it all to an AI and putting the first page on the internet
- Part 3: wait, is this actually safe? (the security one)
This series is the record of a web-development beginner building a blog with AI. Service specifications and screens change, so check Cloudflare's current documentation when you do this yourself (this post reflects late August 2026).
