Secure Self-Hosting with Cloudflare Tunnel

A small home infrastructure project: making a self-hosted service reachable from anywhere, securely.

The journey:

  • First attempt: a homemade dynamic DNS script in Python, calling the Cloudflare API to keep the DNS record in sync with my changing home IP (triggered by a Windows scheduled task).
  • The problem: my public IP was still directly exposed, with no HTTPS.
  • Final solution: a Cloudflare Tunnel (cloudflared) running as a Windows service. The connection is outbound and encrypted, so my IP is fully hidden, HTTPS is automatic, and no port is open on my router.

What it demonstrates: DNS (including dynamic DNS), REST APIs, Python scripting, reverse tunnels, proxying, HTTPS, and Windows service management.

Full write-up in the article: Exposing a Self-Hosted Service Securely with Cloudflare Tunnel.

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