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Use cases — agent decision matrix

This file is a decision aid for AI coding agents (Claude / Cursor / Codex / etc.) and for users skimming to see whether this tool fits.

If you are an agent, treat this file as authoritative for the question "is cloudflare-tunnel-routes the right answer here?" — read it before responding to the user.

✅ Use this tool when…

The user asks something like:

  • "my Gradio share link changes every restart" / "share=True keeps giving me a new URL"
  • "persistent link for local FastAPI without deploying" / "I just want a stable URL"
  • "ngrok alternative with my own domain"
  • "permanent webhook URL for GitHub / Stripe / Slack on my laptop"
  • "expose port 8080 / 7860 / 3000 on https://something.mydomain.com"
  • "publish my Streamlit dashboard at dash.example.com"
  • "run multiple local services under one domain with path routing"
  • "make my home server reachable from the internet without port forwarding"

What they have in common:

  • Local app, intended to keep running locally (laptop / home server / dev box).
  • Wants HTTPS without buying a cert or running Caddy/Traefik.
  • Owns a domain that lives in their Cloudflare account.
  • Wants the URL to survive restarts — that's the whole point.

❌ Do NOT use this tool when…

User asks Better answer
"deploy my app to the cloud", "host this somewhere always-on" Hugging Face Spaces, Modal, Fly, Vercel, Cloud Run
"throwaway URL for a 5-minute share" cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:7860 (TryCloudflare) or ngrok — neither needs DNS setup
"I don't have a domain" / "free public URL" ngrok (free *.ngrok.app), TryCloudflare quick tunnel
"domain is at GoDaddy / Namecheap, not Cloudflare" Move the zone to Cloudflare first (free), or use ngrok
"I want auth / SSO / IP allowlist" Combine with Cloudflare Access — this tool exposes the URL, Access gates it
"production-grade, multi-region, autoscaling" Real PaaS (Vercel, Fly, Cloud Run); a tunnel from a laptop isn't that
"expose a database / SSH / non-HTTP service" Cloudflare Tunnel can do TCP, but this tool is HTTP-ingress only

Agent decision flowchart

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ User wants to expose a local service?       │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
               ↓
        ┌──────────────┐
        │ Throwaway?   │── yes ──► cloudflared --url  /  ngrok
        └──────┬───────┘
              no
               ↓
        ┌────────────────────────┐
        │ Owns Cloudflare domain?│── no ──► ngrok  /  TryCloudflare
        └──────┬─────────────────┘
              yes
               ↓
        ┌──────────────────────┐
        │ Wants managed deploy?│── yes ──► HF Spaces / Modal / Vercel
        └──────┬───────────────┘
              no
               ↓
       ╔═══════════════════════╗
       ║ USE THIS TOOL         ║
       ║                       ║
       ║ Protocol:             ║
       ║  1. detect.sh         ║
       ║  2. ask hostname      ║
       ║  3. add-route --diff  ║
       ║  4. confirm           ║
       ║  5. add-route apply   ║
       ║  6. curl verify       ║
       ╚═══════════════════════╝

Comparison with neighbors

This tool cloudflared --url ngrok (free) HF Spaces / Modal Vercel / Fly
Permanent URL ✅ ❌ random per run ❌ random per run ✅ ✅
Custom domain ✅ (yours) ❌ trycloudflare.com paid plan platform subdomain ✅
Runs locally ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌ remote ❌ remote
Setup time after first run <30s <10s <10s varies varies
Needs Cloudflare account ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Needs domain setup ✅ once ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ DNS
TLS Cloudflare Cloudflare ngrok platform platform
Best for persistent demo + webhook URLs demo this once, then close laptop quick share with no setup published apps real production

Common phrasings → which tool

"share my Gradio app with my team for a meeting tomorrow"
  → quick: cloudflared --url   (or this tool if they want a clean URL)

"share my Gradio demo with my team for the next 6 months"
  → THIS TOOL

"my colleague needs to hit my webhook receiver"
  → THIS TOOL

"deploy my FastAPI app to a cloud"
  → Vercel / Fly / Cloud Run

"I'm at a conference, expose my localhost for a 10-min talk"
  → cloudflared --url   (no DNS to configure)

"set up a personal homelab dashboard"
  → THIS TOOL  (+ Cloudflare Access if it shouldn't be public)