Skip to main content

Cloudflare Account Setup

Cloudflare is where your finished site will live on the internet. Cloudflare Pages can host your site for free — no credit card required. When you're ready to deploy, you'll connect your GitHub repo to Cloudflare and it will automatically publish your site every time you push code.

Step 1: Create a Cloudflare account​

  1. Go to cloudflare.com
  2. Click Sign up
  3. Enter your email address and create a password
  4. Verify your email when prompted

That's it — you now have a Cloudflare account.

Step 2: Verify your setup​

Confirm you can:

We won't configure anything else here yet. When your site is ready to deploy, Cloudflare will give you a free URL like your-project.pages.dev that works immediately.

Optional: Buy a custom domain​

Cloudflare Pages gives you a free *.pages.dev URL, which works perfectly. But if you want a custom domain like yourname.com or janedoe.dev, Cloudflare is one of the cheapest and simplest places to buy one.

Why you might want one​

  • A custom domain looks more professional on a resume or LinkedIn
  • It's easier to remember and share (janedoe.com vs janedoe-portfolio.pages.dev)
  • It's yours — you can keep it even if you switch hosting later

How to buy a domain on Cloudflare​

  1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, click Domain Registration in the left sidebar
  2. Click Register Domain
  3. Search for the domain you want (e.g., yourname.com)
  4. If it's available, click Purchase and follow the checkout steps
  5. Cloudflare sells domains at cost (no markup), so prices are typically $10-15/year for a .com
Don't stress about this now

A custom domain is totally optional and you can add one at any point. Your site will work perfectly on the free *.pages.dev URL. If you're not sure, skip this for now and come back later when your site is ready to show off.

What's next?​

Your hosting is ready to go. If you're following Path B (the full web app with login), the next step is setting up your Supabase account for the database and authentication. If you're following Path A (personal profile site), you can skip ahead to Setting Up Your Project.