Hugo: Deploying Website into Cloudflare

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Deploying your Hugo-generated website into Cloudflare is a streamlined process that offers enhanced performance, security, and scalability for your static site. Cloudflare, known for its global content delivery network (CDN) and robust security features, can significantly boost your site’s speed and resilience. In this post, we’ll walk through the steps to deploy a Hugo website into Cloudflare, ensuring a smooth and efficient setup.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

  1. Hugo-generated website.
  2. Cloudflare account.
  3. Github account.

Step 1: Check your Hugo Site

First, ensure your Hugo site is ready for deployment. Navigate to your site’s directory and start the Hugo webserver to review the website:

hugo server -D -E -F --port 12345

This command will provide a webserver running localy at https://127.0.0.1:12345.

Step 2: Set Up Cloudflare Pages

  1. Log into Cloudflare: Go to your Cloudflare dashboard.
  2. Create a New Project: In the Workers & Pages section, click on “Create”.
  3. Connect Your Git Repository: Cloudflare Pages integrates seamlessly with GitHub and GitLab. Choose your repository and branch that contains your Hugo site.
  4. Configure the Build Settings:
    • Build command: hugo
    • Build directory: public

Step 3: Deploy Your Site

After configuring the build settings, Cloudflare Pages will automatically start the deployment process. This includes fetching your repository, building the site using Hugo, and then deploying the static files.

The Cloudflare Pages service will provide a domain for your project that looks like https://{{ PROJECT NAME }}.pages.dev.

Step 4: Use your custom domain

To point your custom domain to Cloudflare, follow these steps:

  1. Add Your Domain to Cloudflare: In the Cloudflare dashboard, go to “Websites” and add your domain.
  2. Update Your DNS Settings: Cloudflare will provide you with nameservers. Update your domain registrar with these nameservers to route traffic through Cloudflare.
  3. Configure DNS Records: Add a CNAME record pointing your domain to the Cloudflare Pages URL.

Step 5: Enhance with Cloudflare Features

Cloudflare offers a range of features to enhance your site:

  • SSL/TLS Encryption: Ensure your site is served over HTTPS for security.
  • Caching: Optimize load times by caching static content at Cloudflare’s edge servers.
  • Firewall: Protect your site with Cloudflare’s web application firewall (WAF).

Conclusion

Deploying your Hugo site to Cloudflare not only boosts your website’s performance but also provides robust security features. Cloudflare offers a generous free-tier that includes almost all necessary services to host your website, manage your domain, and apply security measures. With Cloudflare’s easy integration and powerful tools, your static site will be fast, secure, and ready to handle high traffic volumes. Start leveraging these benefits today to enhance your web presence.

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