When developing locally with DDEV, you might need to share your work with clients, test webhooks from external services, or collaborate with remote team members. Cloudflare Tunnel provides a secure, simple way to expose your local development sites to the internet without opening firewall ports or dealing with complex networking configurations.

What is Cloudflare Tunnel?

Cloudflare Tunnel (formerly Argo Tunnel) is part of Cloudflare's Zero Trust networking solution. It creates a secure, outbound-only connection from your local machine to Cloudflare's edge network, which then routes public traffic to your local services. This means:

No open inbound ports - Your firewall stays secure
No public IP required - Works behind NAT and corporate firewalls
Free for development use - Cloudflare's quick tunnels are free
HTTPS by default - Automatic SSL/TLS encryption
Simple setup - Just one command to get started

What is DDEV?

DDEV is a Docker-based local development environment that makes it easy to set up PHP projects (Drupal, WordPress, Laravel, etc.) with minimal configuration. It provides:

Pre-configured containers for web, database, and other services
Support for multiple PHP versions
Built-in SSL certificates for local HTTPS
Command-line tools for common development tasks

Using DDEV with Cloudflare Tunnel lets you run your site locally and share it publicly whenever needed.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have:

A Mac, Linux, or Windows machine with Docker installed
DDEV installed and configured (official installation guide or check out my guide on setting up DDEV for WordPress and Drupal)
A working DDEV project (we'll use example sites like myproject.ddev.site and client-site.ddev.site)
Basic command-line familiarity
No Cloudflare account required for quick tunnels (the method covered in this guide)

Note: If you want persistent URLs with custom domains (covered later), you'll need a free Cloudflare account.

Step 1: Install Cloudflared

The cloudflared daemon is the client that creates the tunnel connection. Installation varies by platform:

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install cloudflared

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i cloudflared-linux-amd64.deb

Linux (RHEL/CentOS)

wget -q https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm -i cloudflared-linux-x86_64.rpm

Windows

Download the installer from the Cloudflare downloads page or use Chocolatey:

choco install cloudflared

Verify the installation:

cloudflared --version

Step 2: Start Your DDEV Site

Make sure your DDEV project is running. Navigate to your project directory and start DDEV:

cd /path/to/your/project
ddev start

Your site will be available locally at something like https://yourproject.ddev.site. Verify it works by opening it in your browser.

Step 3: Create a Cloudflare Tunnel to Your DDEV Site

Here's where it gets interesting. Run one command and cloudflared creates a tunnel with a public URL automatically. No account setup, no authentication, no configuration needed. The basic syntax is:

cloudflared tunnel --url <local-url> --http-host-header <hostname>

Example 1: My Project Site

cloudflared tunnel --url https://myproject.ddev.site/ --http-host-header myproject.ddev.site

Example 2: Client Site

cloudflared tunnel --url https://client-site.ddev.site/ --http-host-header client-site.ddev.site

After running this command, you'll see output like:

2025-10-14T10:30:15Z INF Thank you for trying Cloudflare Tunnel. Doing so, without a Cloudflare account, is a quick way to experiment and try it out. However, be aware that these account-less Tunnels have no uptime guarantee. If you intend to use Tunnels in production you should use a pre-created named tunnel by following: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-apps
2025-10-14T10:30:15Z INF Requesting new quick Tunnel on trycloudflare.com...
2025-10-14T10:30:16Z INF +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2025-10-14T10:30:16Z INF |  Your quick Tunnel has been created! Visit it at (it may take some time to be reachable): |
2025-10-14T10:30:16Z INF |  https://randomly-generated-subdomain.trycloudflare.com                                     |
2025-10-14T10:30:16Z INF +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Copy the generated URL (e.g., https://randomly-generated-subdomain.trycloudflare.com) and share it with anyone who needs access to your local site!

Understanding the Command Parameters

Let's break down what each parameter does:

--url: The local URL where your DDEV site is running. Use HTTPS if your DDEV site uses SSL (which it does by default).
--http-host-header: This is crucial for DDEV. It tells cloudflared to forward the correct hostname in the HTTP Host header. DDEV routes requests based on this header, so without it, you'll get a "404 Not Found" or see the wrong site.

Why is --http-host-header Necessary?

DDEV's router uses virtual hosting, meaning multiple sites can run on the same IP address and port. The router determines which site to serve based on the Host header in the HTTP request.

When traffic comes through Cloudflare Tunnel, the Host header would normally be the Cloudflare-generated domain (like randomly-generated-subdomain.trycloudflare.com). By specifying --http-host-header myproject.ddev.site, we override this and ensure DDEV sees the correct hostname.

Using Named Tunnels for Persistent URLs

The quick tunnel method above is perfect for ad-hoc sharing, but the URL changes each time you run the command and there's no uptime guarantee. If you need a persistent URL with your own custom domain (like myproject.example.com), you can create a named tunnel. This requires a free Cloudflare account.

1. Authenticate with Cloudflare

cloudflared tunnel login

This opens a browser to authenticate with your Cloudflare account.

2. Create a Named Tunnel

cloudflared tunnel create my-ddev-tunnel

This generates a tunnel ID and credentials file.

3. Create a Configuration File

Create ~/.cloudflared/config.yml:

tunnel: <TUNNEL-ID>
credentials-file: /Users/yourusername/.cloudflared/<TUNNEL-ID>.json

ingress:
  - hostname: mysite.example.com
    service: https://myproject.ddev.site
    originRequest:
      httpHostHeader: myproject.ddev.site
      noTLSVerify: true
  - service: http_status:404

Note: noTLSVerify: true is needed because DDEV uses self-signed certificates.

4. Route Your Domain

cloudflared tunnel route dns my-ddev-tunnel mysite.example.com

5. Run the Tunnel

cloudflared tunnel run my-ddev-tunnel

Your site is now accessible at https://mysite.example.com with a persistent URL!

Common Use Cases

1. Client Demos

Share work-in-progress sites with clients without deploying to staging servers:

cloudflared tunnel --url https://client-demo.ddev.site/ --http-host-header client-demo.ddev.site

Send the generated URL to your client for instant feedback.

2. Webhook Testing

Test webhooks from services like Stripe, GitHub, or Twilio that require a public URL:

cloudflared tunnel --url https://webhooks.ddev.site/ --http-host-header webhooks.ddev.site

Configure the webhook in the external service to point to your Cloudflare URL.

3. Mobile Device Testing

Test your responsive designs on real mobile devices without being on the same network:

cloudflared tunnel --url https://mobile-test.ddev.site/ --http-host-header mobile-test.ddev.site

Open the Cloudflare URL on your phone to test on real devices.

4. Remote Collaboration

Share your development environment with remote teammates:

cloudflared tunnel --url https://team-collab.ddev.site/ --http-host-header team-collab.ddev.site

Your team can access the site as if they were running it locally.

Troubleshooting

Getting a 404 or Wrong Site

Make sure you're using the --http-host-header parameter with the correct DDEV hostname:

cloudflared tunnel --url https://mysite.ddev.site/ --http-host-header mysite.ddev.site

SSL Certificate Errors

If you're using a named tunnel with a config file, add noTLSVerify: true to the origin request section since DDEV uses self-signed certificates.

Tunnel Not Starting

Check if cloudflared is already running:

ps aux | grep cloudflared

Kill any existing processes if needed:

pkill cloudflared

DDEV Site Not Accessible Locally

Verify your DDEV site is running:

ddev describe

Make sure the URL you're using matches the output.

Security Considerations

While Cloudflare Tunnel is secure by design, keep these points in mind:

Don't expose production databases - Only tunnel development sites with non-sensitive data
Quick tunnels are temporary - URLs expire and shouldn't be relied upon for production
Use authentication - For sensitive projects, add Cloudflare Access authentication to your named tunnels
Monitor tunnel access - Check Cloudflare Analytics to see who's accessing your tunnels
Shut down tunnels when done - Use Ctrl+C to stop the tunnel when you're finished

Alternative: DDEV's Built-in Share Command

DDEV also has a built-in ddev share command that uses ngrok. However, Cloudflare Tunnel offers several advantages:

Free without rate limits (ngrok free tier has limits)
Better performance through Cloudflare's global network
Integration with Cloudflare Zero Trust for advanced features
Persistent named tunnels with custom domains

That said, ddev share is even simpler if you just need something quick and don't want to install additional tools.

Simplifying the Process with ddev-share-cf

To make this process even easier, I've created the ddev-share-cf DDEV addon. This addon integrates Cloudflare Tunnel directly into DDEV, allowing you to share your local sites with a simple command without manually managing cloudflared or configuration files.

Installation

Install the addon with a single command:

ddev get davo20019/ddev-share-cf

Usage

Once installed, simply run:

ddev share-cf

The addon handles all the tunnel configuration automatically, making it as easy as DDEV's built-in share command but with all the benefits of Cloudflare Tunnel.

Additional Resources

Cloud Infrastructure

How to Share Your Local WordPress or Drupal Site with Cloudflare Tunnel (Free)

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