Cloudflare

Configuration for Cloudflare.

  • Code: cloudflare
  • Since: v0.3.0

Here is an example bash command using the Cloudflare provider:

CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL=you@example.com \
CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY=b9841238feb177a84330febba8a83208921177bffe733 \
lego --email you@example.com --dns cloudflare --domains my.example.org run

# or

CLOUDFLARE_DNS_API_TOKEN=1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz \
lego --email you@example.com --dns cloudflare --domains my.example.org run

Credentials

Environment Variable Name Description
CF_API_EMAIL Account email
CF_API_KEY API key
CF_DNS_API_TOKEN API token with DNS:Edit permission (since v3.1.0)
CF_ZONE_API_TOKEN API token with Zone:Read permission (since v3.1.0)
CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY Alias to CF_API_KEY
CLOUDFLARE_DNS_API_TOKEN Alias to CF_DNS_API_TOKEN
CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL Alias to CF_API_EMAIL
CLOUDFLARE_ZONE_API_TOKEN Alias to CF_ZONE_API_TOKEN

The environment variable names can be suffixed by _FILE to reference a file instead of a value. More information here.

Additional Configuration

Environment Variable Name Description
CLOUDFLARE_HTTP_TIMEOUT API request timeout
CLOUDFLARE_POLLING_INTERVAL Time between DNS propagation check
CLOUDFLARE_PROPAGATION_TIMEOUT Maximum waiting time for DNS propagation
CLOUDFLARE_TTL The TTL of the TXT record used for the DNS challenge

The environment variable names can be suffixed by _FILE to reference a file instead of a value. More information here.

Description

You may use CF_API_EMAIL and CF_API_KEY to authenticate, or CF_DNS_API_TOKEN, or CF_DNS_API_TOKEN and CF_ZONE_API_TOKEN.

API keys

If using API keys (CF_API_EMAIL and CF_API_KEY), the Global API Key needs to be used, not the Origin CA Key.

Please be aware, that this in principle allows Lego to read and change everything related to this account.

API tokens

With API tokens (CF_DNS_API_TOKEN, and optionally CF_ZONE_API_TOKEN), very specific access can be granted to your resources at Cloudflare. See this Cloudflare announcement for details.

The main resources Lego cares for are the DNS entries for your Zones. It also need to resolve a domain name to an internal Zone ID in order to manipulate DNS entries.

Hence, you should create an API token with the following permissions:

  • Zone / Zone / Read
  • Zone / DNS / Edit

You also need to scope the access to all your domains for this to work. Then pass the API token as CF_DNS_API_TOKEN to Lego.

Alternatively, if you prefer a more strict set of privileges, you can split the access tokens:

  • Create one with Zone / Zone / Read permissions and scope it to all your zones. This is needed to resolve domain names to Zone IDs and can be shared among multiple Lego installations. Pass this API token as CF_ZONE_API_TOKEN to Lego.
  • Create another API token with Zone / DNS / Edit permissions and set the scope to the domains you want to manage with a single Lego installation. Pass this token as CF_DNS_API_TOKEN to Lego.
  • Repeat the previous step for each host you want to run Lego on.

This “paranoid” setup is mainly interesting for users who manage many zones/domains with a single Cloudflare account. It follows the principle of least privilege and limits the possible damage, should one of the hosts become compromised.

More information