octorules 0.12.5

Manage Cloudflare Rules as IaC

octorules

Cloudflare Rules as code - Manage rules across zones declaratively

In the vein of infrastructure as code, octorules provides tools & patterns to manage Cloudflare Rules (Redirect Rules, Cache Rules, Origin Rules, WAF Custom Rules, WAF Managed Rules, Rate Limiting, Bot Fight Mode, Sensitive Data Detection, Page Shield policies, HTTP DDoS overrides, Bulk Redirects, Logpush Custom Fields, Network DDoS, Magic Firewall, URL Normalization, and more) as YAML files. The resulting config can live in a repository and be deployed just like the rest of your code, maintaining a clear history and using your existing review & workflow.

octodns manages DNS records, but can't touch Cloudflare's newer Rules products. octorules fills that gap — one YAML file per domain, plan-before-apply, fail-fast on errors.

Getting started

Installation

pip install octorules[wirefilter]    # strongly recommended

The wirefilter extra installs octorules-wirefilter, a Rust-based FFI bridge to Cloudflare's actual wirefilter engine. This enables authoritative expression parsing and unlocks the full linter rule set. Without it, a regex-based fallback parser is used (fewer lint rules, no type checking).

Prebuilt wheels are available for Linux (x86_64, aarch64), macOS (x86_64, ARM64), and Windows (x86_64). If wheels are not available for your platform, you can install without it:

pip install octorules    # regex-based expression parser only

Configuration

Create a config file pointing at your zones:

# config.yaml
providers:
  cloudflare:
    token: env/CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN
  rules:
    directory: ./rules

zones:
  example.com:
    sources:
      - rules

The env/ prefix resolves values from environment variables at runtime — keep secrets out of YAML.

YAML files support !include directives to split large configs:

zones:
  example.com: !include zones/example.yaml

# rules/example.com.yaml
redirect_rules: !include shared/redirects.yaml

Includes resolve relative to the file containing the directive. Nested includes and circular include detection are supported. Includes are confined to the directory tree of the parent file.

Defining rules

Create a rules file for each zone:

# rules/example.com.yaml
redirect_rules:
  - ref: blog-redirect
    description: "Redirect /blog to blog subdomain"
    expression: 'starts_with(http.request.uri.path, "/blog/")'
    action_parameters:
      from_value:
        target_url:
          expression: 'concat("https://blog.example.com", http.request.uri.path)'
        status_code: 301

cache_rules:
  - ref: cache-static-assets
    description: "Cache static assets for 24h"
    expression: 'http.request.uri.path.extension in {"jpg" "png" "css" "js"}'
    action_parameters:
      cache: true
      edge_ttl:
        mode: override_origin
        default: 86400

Each rule requires a ref (stable identifier, unique within a phase) and an expression (Cloudflare ruleset expression). Optional fields include description, enabled (defaults to true), action, and action_parameters.

Multi-line expressions

Complex expressions can use YAML block scalars (|-) for readability. octorules normalizes whitespace (collapsing newlines and indentation to single spaces outside quoted strings) before sending to Cloudflare and before linting, so formatting is purely cosmetic:

waf_custom_rules:
  - ref: geo-block
    description: Block by country outside active regions
    action: block
    expression: |-
      (ip.geoip.asnum in {
        9009
        64080
      } and not ip.geoip.country in {
        "AT"
        "BE"
        "DE"
        "FR"
      })

This is equivalent to the single-line form (ip.geoip.asnum in {9009 64080} and not ip.geoip.country in {"AT" "BE" "DE" "FR"}). Use |- (strip trailing newline) rather than | (preserves trailing newline).

Usage

# Preview changes (dry-run)
octorules plan --config config.yaml

# Apply changes
octorules sync --doit --config config.yaml

# Validate offline (no API calls, useful in CI)
octorules validate --config config.yaml

# Export existing rules to YAML
octorules dump --config config.yaml

# Lint rules files offline (109 rules, text/JSON/SARIF output)
octorules lint --config config.yaml

Supported phases

octorules supports 23 Cloudflare phases — 18 HTTP request/response phases and 5 network-level (Magic Transit) phases. Phases execute in a fixed order: URL normalization and redirects first, then transforms, then WAF/rate limiting, then origin fetch, then response-side phases.

Request  ─▸ url_normalization ─▸ redirect_rules ─▸ url_rewrite_rules ─▸ request_header_rules
         ─▸ origin_rules ─▸ config_rules ─▸ cache_rules
         ─▸ waf_custom_rules ─▸ waf_managed_rules ─▸ rate_limiting_rules
         ─▸ bot_fight_rules ─▸ http_ddos_rules
         ─▸▸ Origin fetch ◂◂─
         ─▸ custom_error_rules ─▸ response_header_rules ─▸ compression_rules
         ─▸ sensitive_data_detection ─▸ log_custom_fields ─▸ Response

Phases with a default action (e.g., redirect_rules → redirect) don't need action in the YAML — it's injected automatically. For phases without a default (e.g., waf_custom_rules), you must specify action explicitly.

Phases marked as both Zone and Account work at either scope. Account-only phases are skipped for zone scopes and vice versa, eliminating wasted API calls.

For the full phase reference — execution order diagram, valid actions per phase, field/function availability, and key behaviors — see docs/lint-rules/README.md § Cloudflare Phases Reference.

Note: waf_managed_exceptions was renamed to waf_managed_rules. The old name still works as an alias but is deprecated — update your YAML files to use the new name.

Custom rulesets (account-level)

At the account level, WAF custom rules and rate limiting rules use a two-tier structure: the phase entrypoint contains deploy rules (action: execute) that reference child custom rulesets by ID. The individual blocking/logging rules live inside those child rulesets.

octorules manages both tiers. Deploy rules are managed via the normal phase sections (waf_custom_rules, rate_limiting_rules). The individual rules inside each custom ruleset are managed via a separate custom_rulesets section:

# Account rules file (e.g. rules/my-account.yaml)

# Deploy rules (phase entrypoint — references child rulesets by ID)
waf_custom_rules:
  - ref: deploy-known-attackers
    description: Deploy known attackers ruleset
    action: execute
    action_parameters:
      id: abc12345def67890abc12345def67890
      version: latest
    enabled: true
    expression: (http.host eq "api.example.com")

# Individual rules inside each custom ruleset
custom_rulesets:
  - id: abc12345def67890abc12345def67890
    name: Known attackers
    phase: http_request_firewall_custom
    rules:
      - ref: block-bad-asn
        description: Block by AS number
        action: block
        expression: (ip.geoip.asnum in {12345 67890})
      - ref: block-bad-ua
        description: Block by user-agent
        action: block
        expression: (http.user_agent contains "BadBot")

The id field in each custom_rulesets entry links it to the deploy rule's action_parameters.id. Rules inside use ref for identification (same pattern as phase rules). Every rule must specify an action explicitly.

Use octorules dump --scope account to export existing custom rulesets to YAML. The dump automatically discovers all kind=custom rulesets in your account and includes their individual rules.

Note: octorules manages rules within existing custom rulesets. Creating or deleting rulesets themselves must be done via the Cloudflare dashboard. Zone-level rulesets do not have kind=custom children — this is account-level only.

Lists (account-level)

Cloudflare account-level Lists (IP lists, ASN lists, hostname lists, redirect lists) can be referenced in rule expressions via $list_name syntax. octorules manages full lifecycle of lists declaratively: create, delete, update metadata, and manage items.

Add a top-level lists key to your account rules file:

# rules/my-account.yaml
lists:
  - name: blocked_ips
    kind: ip
    description: "Known bad IPs"
    items:
      - ip: "1.2.3.4"
        comment: "Scanner"
      - ip: "5.6.7.0/24"
        comment: "Botnet range"

  - name: partner_asns
    kind: asn
    description: "Partner AS numbers"
    items:
      - asn: 12345
        comment: "Partner A"
      - asn: 67890
        comment: "Partner B"

Each list entry requires:

Field	Description
name	List name — matches CF list name and $list_name in expressions
kind	One of ip, asn, hostname, redirect
description	Optional — updated if changed
items	List of items (can be empty [] to clear all items)

How it works:

• The presence of a lists: key means ALL lists are managed — lists in Cloudflare not in YAML are planned for deletion (subject to safety thresholds).
• If the lists: key is absent, lists are ignored entirely.
• Item updates are asynchronous — octorules polls the bulk operation until completion.
• During sync, lists are applied before rulesets and phases, so newly created lists are available for rule expressions that reference them.
• Use octorules dump --scope account to export existing lists to YAML. The dump externalizes list items into separate files (referenced via !include tags) under providers.lists.directory (default: {rules_dir}/custom_lists). This directory must be within the rules directory.

Reference lists in rule expressions:

waf_custom_rules:
  - ref: block-bad-ips
    description: Block IPs from blocklist
    action: block
    expression: (ip.src in $blocked_ips)

Page Shield policies (zone-level)

Cloudflare Page Shield manages Content Security Policies (CSP) at the zone level. octorules manages full lifecycle of Page Shield policies declaratively: create, update, and delete.

Add a top-level page_shield_policies key to your zone rules file:

# rules/example.com.yaml
page_shield_policies:
  - description: "CSP on all example.com"
    action: allow
    expression: "true"
    enabled: true
    value: >-
      script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' https:;
      worker-src 'self' blob:

  - description: "Log CSP on staging"
    action: log
    expression: '(http.host eq "staging.example.com")'
    enabled: true
    value: "default-src 'self'"

Each policy entry requires:

Field	Description
description	Policy description — used as the identity key for matching
action	allow or log
expression	Cloudflare filter expression
enabled	Boolean
value	CSP directive string

How it works:

• The description field is the identity key (like ref for rules and name for lists). Policies are matched between YAML and Cloudflare by description.
• The presence of a page_shield_policies: key means ALL policies are managed — policies in Cloudflare not in YAML are planned for deletion.
• If the page_shield_policies: key is absent, policies are ignored entirely.
• During sync, policies are applied after lists and before custom rulesets and phases.
• Use octorules dump to export existing Page Shield policies to YAML.

Linting

octorules lint runs offline static analysis on your rules files — no API calls, no credentials needed. It catches structural errors, invalid actions, expression mistakes, plan-tier violations, and cross-rule issues before you push to Cloudflare.

# Lint all zones (text output)
octorules lint

# JSON output, only errors and warnings
octorules lint --format json --severity warning

# SARIF for GitHub Code Scanning
octorules lint --format sarif --output results.sarif

# Check against Free plan limits
octorules lint --plan free

# CI mode: exit 1 on errors, 2 on warnings
octorules lint --exit-code

Pipeline

The linter runs 4 stages in order:

Stage	What it checks	Rule categories
1. YAML structure	Required fields, types, duplicates, unknown keys	M (15 rules)
2. Per-rule checks	Actions, expressions, phase restrictions	A, C, D, I, J, K, L, N, B, E, F, G, O (83 rules)
2b. Page Shield policies	Policy structure, expressions, catch-all detection	S (4 rules)
3. Plan-tier limits	Regex availability, rule count limits	H (3 rules)
4. Cross-rule analysis	Duplicate expressions, unreachable rules, list references	P (4 rules)

Rule categories

Prefix	Category	Rules
A	Parse / syntax errors	1
M	Structure	15
C	Action validation	15
D	Rate limiting	6
I	Cache rules	4
J	Config rules	4
K	Redirect rules	2
L	Transform rules	5
N	Origin rules	1
B	Phase restrictions	3
E	Function constraints	7
F	Type system	3
G	Value constraints	26
H	Plan/entitlement	3
S	Page Shield structure	4
O	Best practice / style	6
P	Cross-rule	4

109 rules total. See docs/lint-rules/README.md for the full reference (index with quick-reference table + per-stage detail files).

Suppressing lint rules

Add a YAML comment to suppress specific rules (like shellcheck):

  # octorules:disable=M013
  - ref: add-security-headers
    expression: (true)

See docs/lint-rules/README.md for file-level suppression and multi-rule syntax.

Expression parsing

When the wirefilter extra is installed (see Installation), expressions are parsed by Cloudflare's actual wirefilter engine via octorules-wirefilter, providing authoritative type checking, field validation, and syntax verification. Without it, a regex-based fallback parser extracts fields, functions, operators, and literals but cannot perform type checking.

The linter logs which parser is active at startup (Expression parser: wirefilter or Expression parser: regex fallback). If wirefilter rejects a specific expression, it falls back to regex for that expression with a warning. Standalone true/false expressions and value expressions in action_parameters (e.g. regex_replace(...)) are handled separately since wirefilter only parses boolean filter expressions.

CLI reference

octorules plan

Dry-run: shows what would change without touching Cloudflare. Exit code 2 when changes are detected. Output format and destination are controlled via manager.plan_outputs in the config file (defaults to text on stdout).

octorules plan [--zone example.com] [--phase redirect_rules] [--checksum]

octorules sync --doit

Applies changes to Cloudflare. Requires --doit as a safety flag. Atomic PUT per phase, fail-fast on errors.

octorules sync --doit [--zone example.com] [--phase redirect_rules] [--checksum HASH] [--force]

octorules compare

Compare local rules against live Cloudflare state. Exit code 1 when differences exist.

octorules compare [--zone example.com] [--checksum]

octorules report

Drift report showing deployed vs YAML source of truth.

octorules report [--zone example.com] [--output-format csv|json]

octorules validate

Validates config and rules files offline (no API calls). Useful in CI to catch errors early.

octorules validate [--zone example.com] [--phase redirect_rules]

octorules dump

Exports existing Cloudflare rules to YAML files. Useful for bootstrapping or importing an existing setup.

octorules dump [--zone example.com] [--output-dir ./rules]

octorules lint

Lint rules files offline for errors, warnings, and style issues. Supports text, JSON, and SARIF output.

octorules lint [--format text|json|sarif] [--severity error|warning|info] [--plan free|pro|business|enterprise] [--rule RULE_ID] [--output PATH] [--exit-code]

Flag	Description
--format	Output format: text (default), json, sarif
--severity	Minimum severity to report (default: info)
--plan	Cloudflare plan tier for entitlement checks (default: auto-detect from API)
--rule	Only check specific rule ID(s); can be repeated
--output	Write results to a file instead of stdout
--exit-code	Exit with 1 on errors, 2 on warnings (for CI)

Common flags

Flag	Description
--config PATH	Path to config file (default: config.yaml)
--zone NAME	Process a single zone (default: all)
--phase NAME	Limit to specific phase(s); can be repeated
--debug	Enable debug logging
--quiet	Only show errors

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success / no changes
1	Error (or lint errors found with --exit-code)
2	Changes detected (plan) / lint warnings found (lint --exit-code)

Config reference

providers:
  cloudflare:
    token: env/CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN  # env/ prefix reads from environment
    max_retries: 2                   # API retry count (default: 2)
    timeout: 30                      # API timeout in seconds (optional)
    safety:
      delete_threshold: 30.0        # Max % of rules that can be deleted (default: 30)
      update_threshold: 30.0        # Max % of rules that can be updated (default: 30)
      min_existing: 3               # Min rules before thresholds apply (default: 3)
  rules:
    directory: ./rules               # Path to rules directory
  lists:
    directory: ./rules/custom_lists  # Path for externalized list items (default: {rules_dir}/custom_lists)

manager:
  max_workers: 4                     # Parallel processing (default: 1)
  plan_outputs:                      # Config-driven plan output (replaces --format/--output)
    text:
      class: octorules.plan_output.PlanText
    html:
      class: octorules.plan_output.PlanHtml
      path: /tmp/plan.html           # Optional: write to file instead of stdout

zones:
  example.com:
    sources:
      - rules
    allow_unmanaged: false           # Keep rules not in YAML (default: false)
    always_dry_run: true             # Never apply changes (default: false)
    safety:                          # Per-zone overrides
      delete_threshold: 50.0

How it works

1. Plan — Reads your YAML rules, fetches current rules from Cloudflare, computes a diff by matching rules on ref (phases), name (lists), or description (Page Shield policies).
2. Sync — Executes the plan in order: lists, Page Shield policies, custom rulesets, then phases. Each phase uses an atomic PUT (full replacement of the phase ruleset). Fail-fast on errors.
3. Dump — Fetches all rules from Cloudflare and writes them to YAML files, stripping API-only fields (id, version, last_updated, etc.). For account scopes, also fetches individual rules inside custom rulesets and lists with their items. For zone scopes, also fetches Page Shield policies.

Performance (all parallelism controlled via manager.max_workers, default: 1):

• Parallel phase fetching — phases within each scope are fetched concurrently.
• Parallel phase apply — phase PUTs within a zone are applied concurrently during sync.
• Parallel apply stages — list item updates, custom ruleset PUTs, and Page Shield policy operations within each stage run concurrently.
• Parallel zone processing — multiple zones are planned/synced concurrently.
• Parallel zone ID resolution — zone name lookups run concurrently.
• Concurrent account planning — account-level rules are planned in parallel with zone rules.
• Scope-aware phase filtering — only zone-level phases are fetched for zone scopes, and only account-level phases for account scopes, eliminating wasted API calls.
• Connection pool scaling — HTTP connection pool is sized to match max_workers.
• Rules caching — YAML rule files are parsed once and cached for the duration of each run.

Safety features:

• --doit flag — sync requires explicit confirmation.
• Delete thresholds — blocks mass deletions above a configurable percentage.
• Checksum verification — plan --checksum produces a hash; sync --checksum HASH verifies the plan hasn't changed.
• Auth error propagation — authentication and permission errors fail immediately instead of being silently swallowed.
• Failed phase filtering — phases that can't be fetched are excluded from planning to prevent accidental mass deletions.
• Pagination retry — list item fetches retry transient errors per page, preserving items already fetched.
• Path traversal protection — !include directives and file operations are confined to their expected directories.

CI/CD integration

For GitHub Actions, see octorules-sync — a ready-made action that runs plan on PRs and sync on merge to main.

Development

Local setup

git clone [e-mail]:doctena-org/octorules.git
cd octorules
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Running tests and linting

pytest
ruff check src/ tests/
ruff format --check src/ tests/

Releasing a new version

1. Update the version in pyproject.toml (single source of truth).
2. Commit and push to main.
3. Tag the release and push the tag:

git tag v0.10.0
git push origin v0.10.0

Pushing a v* tag triggers the publish workflow, which builds the package, publishes it to PyPI, and creates a GitHub Release.

License

octorules is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.