Quick Start Cloudflare DDNS

Introduction

This article describes the simplest way to quickly get started with Cloudflare DDNS.

Prerequisites

1. Register a Cloudflare Account

We won’t go into detail here; please refer to other tutorials.

2. Get a Cloudflare API Token

1. Visit https://dash.cloudflare.com/profile/api-tokens
2. Click “Create Token” and select the “Edit zone DNS” template
3. Enter any name
4. Set permissions to edit zone DNS:
   • Zone - Zone - Read
   • Zone - DNS - Edit
5. For Zone Resources, select the domain for DDNS
6. Client IP Filter (optional) — leave blank since DDNS uses dynamic IPs
7. TTL — leave empty

After creation, copy the token.

3. Get Your Zone ID

1. Visit https://dash.cloudflare.com/
2. Select the domain for DDNS
3. Find the Zone ID in the bottom-right corner

Quick Start

Windows x64

Basic Usage

1. Download cf-ddns-windows-x64-(version)-RELEASE.exe from the releases page and rename it to cf-ddns.exe
2. Place it in a directory, e.g., C:\Users\[UserName]\cf-ddns
3. Open a terminal in that directory and run:
   shell

   cf-ddns.exe -gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false>

   This checks IP every 300 seconds and updates DNS on change.

With winsw (Windows Service)

The basic usage requires the terminal to stay open. Use winsw to wrap cf-ddns.exe as a Windows service.

1. Download cf-ddns-windows-x64-(version)-RELEASE.exe, rename to cf-ddns.exe
2. Place it in a directory like C:\Users\[UserName]\cf-ddns
3. Download winsw-2.12.0-bin.exe
4. Create cf-ddns-service.xml in the same directory:
   xml

   <service>
       <id>cf-ddns</id>
       <name>cf-ddns</name>
       <description>cloudflare ddns</description>
       <workingdirectory>C:\Users\[UserName]\cf-ddns</workingdirectory>
       <executable>C:\Users\[UserName]\cf-ddns</executable>
       <startarguments>-gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false></startarguments>
       <onfailure action="restart" delay="10 sec"/>
   </service>

5. Rename WinSW-x64.exe to cf-ddns-service.exe. Directory structure:
   shell

   C:\Users\[UserName]\cf-ddns
   ├── cf-ddns.exe
   ├── cf-ddns-service.xml
   ├── cf-ddns-service.exe

6. Install the service:
   shell

   cf-ddns-service.exe install cf-ddns-service.xml

7. Start the service:
   shell

   cf-ddns-service.exe start cf-ddns-service.xml

8. Check status:
   shell

   cf-ddns-service.exe status cf-ddns-service.xml

9. Uninstall:
   shell

   cf-ddns-service.exe uninstall cf-ddns-service.xml

The service will run in the background and survive reboots.

Linux x64

Basic Usage

1. Download cf-ddns-linux-x64-(version)-RELEASE.kexe from the releases page
2. Rename and set permissions:
   shell

   mv cf-ddns-linux-x64-(version)-RELEASE.kexe cf-ddns && chmod +x cf-ddns

3. Move to /usr/local/bin:
   shell

   mv cf-ddns /usr/local/bin

4. Run:
   shell

   cf-ddns -gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false>

With systemd

1-3: Same as above.

4. Create service:

   shell

   vim /etc/systemd/system/cloudflare-ddns.service

   ini

   [Unit]
   Description=cloudflare-ddns
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/cf-ddns -gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false>
   Restart=on-failure
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

5. Start and enable:

   shell

   systemctl start cloudflare-ddns
   systemctl enable cloudflare-ddns

With Cron

1-3: Same as above.

4. Edit crontab:

   shell

   crontab -e

5. Add:

   shell

   */5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/cf-ddns -gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false> -once

Docker

docker-cli

docker run -d \
    --network host \
    --name cf-ddns \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    selcarpa/cloudflare-ddns:latest \
    -gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false>

docker-compose

services:
  cf-ddns:
    image: selcarpa/cloudflare-ddns:latest
    network_mode: host
    container_name: cf-ddns
    restart: unless-stopped
    command:
      -gen -zoneId=<zoneId> -authKey=<token> -domain=<domain> -v4=<true/false> -v6=<true/false>

This article is translated by deepseek-v4-flash (model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash).