Cloudflare dns

Cloudflare DNS Migration & Management

End-to-end automation for moving domains from Namecheap to Cloudflare, plus ongoing record management. Designed to be reusable across many domains.

Required environment

Cloudflare auth needs two credentials:

Var	What it is	When used
CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY	Account-scoped API Token (cfat_*)	All ongoing DNS operations: list/add/edit/delete records, zone settings, listing zones. Use this by default.
CLOUDFLARE_GLOBAL_API_KEY + CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL	Global API Key + email	Only for POST /zones (creating new zones in the account). Cloudflare's API requires User-level auth for zone creation; account tokens cannot do this.

🔴 Security note. CLOUDFLARE_GLOBAL_API_KEY grants full account access (billing, members, everything). Treat it carefully:

• Use Bearer auth (Authorization: Bearer ...) for CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY
• Use header-pair auth (X-Auth-Key: + X-Auth-Email:) for the global key
• Never write either to disk, configs, URLs, or git
• Always pass via env var; never log values

For the registrar side (Namecheap), see the namecheap-dns skill — it shares its IP-allowlist + setHosts conventions with this one.

The hard rule: zone creation needs Global Key

Account API Tokens (the safer, narrower kind) cannot create zones. Cloudflare's POST /zones endpoint always rejects them with:

Requires permission "com.cloudflare.api.account.zone.create"

This is a Cloudflare API limitation, not a missing permission. Solution: use the Global API Key for the single zone-create call, then switch back to the account token for everything else.

The migration scripts handle this split automatically.

Endpoints reference

Operation	Method	URL	Auth
Verify token	GET	/user/tokens/verify (Bearer) or /accounts/{id}/tokens/verify	account token
List accounts	GET	/accounts	global key
List zones	GET	/zones?name=domain.com	account token
Create zone	POST	/zones body {name, account:{id}, type:"full"}	global key only
Delete zone	DELETE	/zones/{zone_id}	account token
List records	GET	/zones/{zone_id}/dns_records?per_page=100	account token
Create record	POST	/zones/{zone_id}/dns_records	account token
Update record	PUT	/zones/{zone_id}/dns_records/{id}	account token
Delete record	DELETE	/zones/{zone_id}/dns_records/{id}	account token

Record body shape

{
  "type": "A | AAAA | CNAME | MX | TXT | CAA | SRV | NS",
  "name": "subdomain.example.com",   // FQDN, NOT just "subdomain"
  "content": "1.2.3.4",              // for MX/SRV use specific shapes
  "ttl": 300,                        // 1 = "auto" (300s)
  "proxied": false,                   // grey cloud (DNS only) by default
  "priority": 10,                    // MX records only
  "comment": "..."                   // optional, helpful for audit
}

Cloudflare auto-strips the trailing dot on CNAME/MX targets, but be consistent — pass your-app.fly.dev. (with dot) the same way the registrar stored it.

Proxy default: OFF (grey cloud)

Set proxied: false for everything by default. Reasons:

• WebSockets / SSE often break with default proxy settings
• Fly.io, Vercel, Netlify already terminate TLS — proxying adds cert-renewal complications (_acme-challenge flow)
• Easier rollback if something is wrong

Enable per-record manually after migration is verified (/zones/{id}/dns_records/{id} PATCH {proxied: true}).

Workflow: full migration (Namecheap → Cloudflare)

1. Audit current DNS at Namecheap        → scripts/audit.sh <domain>
2. Create zone in Cloudflare              → scripts/migrate.sh <domain> create
3. Import all records to Cloudflare       → scripts/migrate.sh <domain> import
4. Verify resolution via DoH against
   Cloudflare's NS (BEFORE flipping)      → scripts/migrate.sh <domain> verify
5. Flip nameservers at Namecheap          → scripts/migrate.sh <domain> flip
6. Watch propagation                      → scripts/migrate.sh <domain> watch

Pause for confirmation between steps 3 and 5 — the flip is the only step that affects live traffic.

Verifying against Cloudflare's NS BEFORE flipping

Cloudflare's nameservers serve the new zone immediately, even though public DNS still points to Namecheap. Query CF's NS directly to confirm records are correct:

# DoH query AGAINST Cloudflare's authoritative NS:
NS=emerson.ns.cloudflare.com  # one of the assigned NS for this zone
NS_IP=$(curl -s "https://1.1.1.1/dns-query?name=$NS&type=A" \
  -H "accept: application/dns-json" | python3 -c "import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['Answer'][0]['data'])")

# Direct UDP DNS via dig — but sandbox lacks dig. Use a public DoT/DoH proxy
# OR run kdig if available, OR use python:
python3 -c "
import socket, struct
# (truncated — see scripts/dns-direct-query.py for full impl)
"

In practice the migrate.sh verify step uses a Python helper that sends a UDP DNS query directly to the Cloudflare NS IP and parses the response, so we know the zone is right BEFORE switching.

Per-domain state

Each migration writes state to .dns-state/<domain>/:

.dns-state/example.com/
├── audit-pre.json           # records before migration
├── cloudflare-zone.json     # zone metadata + NS
├── records-imported.json    # what was sent to Cloudflare
├── verify.log               # NS-direct query results
├── flip.log                 # registrar response when flipping NS
├── post-cutover.json        # records after migration
└── report.md                # human-readable summary

This lets us re-run any step idempotently and roll back precisely.

Rollback

scripts/rollback.sh <domain>

Sets nameservers back to the pre-migration values (saved in audit-pre.json). The Cloudflare zone is left intact — re-running migrate.sh <domain> flip will redo the cutover without re-importing.

Common gotchas

Symptom	Cause	Fix
POST /zones returns code 0 "Requires permission ..."	Used account token instead of global key	Use CLOUDFLARE_GLOBAL_API_KEY + CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL headers
_acme-challenge records dropped after migration	Forgot to import them	Always include _acme-challenge* CNAMEs — Fly/Vercel/etc need them for cert renewal
Email stops working after cutover	Namecheap EmailType=FWD auto-injected MX/SPF that aren't stored as host records	Before migration, manually add the eforward MX (10/10/10/15/20 priority) + SPF TXT to Cloudflare
Cert renewal fails 30 days post-migration	Same as above (_acme-challenge issue)	Verify all _acme-challenge.* records are in Cloudflare via audit.sh
proxied: true breaks the site	Cloudflare SSL mode default is "Flexible"	Set zone SSL to "Full (strict)" before enabling proxy, or leave proxy off
Namecheap setHosts deletes records	Wholesale replace — must include all records	Use the namecheap-dns skill's setHosts pattern
Sandbox IP not whitelisted at Namecheap	IP rotates between sandbox sessions	curl https://api.ipify.org; ask user to whitelist
harden.sh reports 4 CAAs added but only 1 (the last) actually persists	cf_upsert_record matched on (type, name) only. CAA records share that key but differ by (tag, value), so each new CAA UPDATED the previous one instead of inserting alongside. Same bug existed for MX (5 eforward MXes on apex collapse to 1) and TXT (multiple SPF/DKIM/verification TXTs on same name collapse).	Fixed in lib.sh:cf_upsert_record — now matches (type, name, tag, value) for CAA, (type, name, content) for MX/TXT. Always verify post-hardening: cf_api GET "/zones/$ZID/dns_records?type=CAA" should return 4 records (issue letsencrypt.org, issue pki.goog, issuewild ;, iodef mailto:…).
Public resolvers (1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8) keep returning Namecheap NS for 30+ min after the flip — even though the parent TLD is delegating to Cloudflare	"Lame delegation" during a registrar transition: Namecheap's dns1/dns2.registrar-servers.com keep claiming aa=1 (authoritative) and serve in-zone NS records with their own 30min TTL. When a resolver queries Namecheap directly (instead of re-asking the parent), it caches the stale answer until the in-zone TTL expires.	This is expected and harmless — the parent .ai/.com TLD is the source of truth. Verify the parent directly using dns-direct-query.py v0n0.nic.ai example.com NS (or the equivalent TLD NS for other zones). If the parent says Cloudflare and the CF zone status is active, you're done. Public resolvers will catch up within 30-60 min. The site works either way because both NS sets resolve to the same origin records.

File: scripts/migrate.sh

The main migration driver. Takes a domain + step, runs that step, saves state to .dns-state/<domain>/. Designed for re-runs.

scripts/migrate.sh example.com full       # create+import+verify, then STOPS and prints
                                          # the flip/watch commands (flip touches live
                                          # traffic, so it is never run implicitly)
scripts/migrate.sh example.com create     # create zone only
scripts/migrate.sh example.com import     # import records only
scripts/migrate.sh example.com verify     # query CF's NS to confirm
scripts/migrate.sh example.com flip       # update NS at Namecheap
scripts/migrate.sh example.com watch      # poll propagation

File: scripts/audit.sh

Read-only state check — current registrar, current NS, current records, whether zone exists in Cloudflare yet, what's missing. Safe to run anytime.

scripts/audit.sh example.com

File: scripts/rollback.sh

Sets nameservers at Namecheap back to dns1/2.registrar-servers.com (or the original NS saved in audit-pre.json).

scripts/rollback.sh example.com

Progressive disclosure — load only when needed

Keep this SKILL.md for auth, migration workflow, endpoints, and gotchas. Deep script docs live under references/:

When you need…	Read
Zone hardening (SSL/WAF/CAA/DNSSEC tiers)	references/harden.md
DNSSEC DS paste at registrar	run scripts/dnssec-instructions.sh <domain>; background in references/harden.md
Cloudflare Origin CA certs	references/origin-ca.md
Export zone as YAML/JSON/TF	references/dns-export.md
Restrict Fly origin to Cloudflare only	references/fly-restrict-origin.md (also under scripts/)
Shared shell helpers	scripts/lib.sh

Run the scripts from scripts/; the reference files are the human/agent deep-dive for each.

Script index (quick)

scripts/audit.sh <domain>
scripts/migrate.sh <domain> full|create|import|verify|flip|watch
scripts/rollback.sh <domain>
scripts/harden.sh <domain> [--enable-proxy=false] [...]
scripts/dnssec-instructions.sh <domain>
scripts/origin-ca.sh <domain>
scripts/dns-export.sh <domain> [--format=yaml|json|zonefile|terraform]
scripts/cf-ips-fetch.sh
scripts/dns-direct-query.py   # UDP query against a specific NS IP