# AI on Cloudflare: a decision guide

> Two questions decide which Cloudflare products you need for AI and whether to build an agent. The guide has three parts.

By Kai Bitterschulte (https://kai.zone/). Published 2026-10-07, updated 2026-10-28. Canonical URL: https://kai.zone/writing/ai-on-cloudflare-decision-guide/

This guide covers which Cloudflare products to put in place for AI, and in which order.

Every AI setup has the same shape: someone acts, the AI runs in a session, it reaches models, tools and private systems through gates, and everything is logged. [Step 1](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#the-shape-of-every-ai-setup) starts with that picture.

## Start with two questions

Do you build AI yourself, or use AI that someone else built? And who is affected, your customers or your employees? The answers give four cases.

*Diagram: First decision: building or adopting AI, and who is exposed. The four cases, A to D. Step 1 lists the products to put in place for each one, in order.*

## The reading path

1. **[Step 1: Cloudflare and AI: choose your path](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/).** The four cases, which product guards which AI traffic, where models and agent-written code run, how to govern agents inside your company, and when Cloudflare OS fits.
2. **[Step 2: Building AI agents on Cloudflare: which architecture when](https://kai.zone/writing/ai-agents-on-cloudflare-architecture/).** For cases A and B. Ten ways to build an agent, from a plain Worker to Project Think and VibeSDK, with starter code.
3. **[Reference: the decision matrix](https://kai.zone/writing/ai-on-cloudflare-decision-matrix/).** The building blocks each situation needs, on one page.

## Shortcuts by situation

| Your situation | Read first | Then |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **A. Your customers use AI that you built** (a chatbot or AI search in your product) | [A2: the control map](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a2-the-control-map-which-product-guards-which-traffic) and [A3: where inference runs](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a3-where-does-inference-run) | [Step 2](https://kai.zone/writing/ai-agents-on-cloudflare-architecture/), then the matrix row A |
| **B. Your staff use internal AI that you build** (agents for engineers and IT, an internal assistant) | [A4: the governed agent workspace](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a4-internal-it-and-engineering-the-governed-agent-workspace) and [A6: Cloudflare OS](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a6-a-ready-made-start-cloudflare-os) and [A7: VibeSDK](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a7-another-ready-made-start-vibesdk) | [Step 2](https://kai.zone/writing/ai-agents-on-cloudflare-architecture/), then the matrix rows B1 to B4 |
| **C. Your staff use third-party AI** (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, coding assistants) | [A2: the control map](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a2-the-control-map-which-product-guards-which-traffic), control C4 | The matrix row C. Nothing to build, so skip step 2. |
| **D. AI visits your sites** (crawlers and agents reading your content) | [A2: the control map](https://kai.zone/writing/cloudflare-ai-choose-your-path/#a2-the-control-map-which-product-guards-which-traffic), control C5 | The matrix row D. Nothing to build, so skip step 2. |

## What to expect

Every product claim links to the public Cloudflare documentation, and experimental, beta and paid add-on features are marked. I built the guides from the documentation and checked them on 7 October 2026, but I have not deployed every option. Feature status changes, so check the linked page before you commit to a design.