Setting up Stormkit with Cloudflare Tunnel

This tutorial will walk you through setting up Stormkit to work completely locally using Cloudflare Tunnel, allowing you to serve your application with HTTPS through your own domain while running everything on your local machine.

Prerequisites

• A Cloudflare account
• A domain managed by Cloudflare (a top-level domain or advanced certificate manager is required)

Overview

This setup allows you to:

• Run Stormkit locally
• Use Cloudflare Tunnel to expose your local development server
• Serve your application through your custom domain with automatic HTTPS
• Support wildcard subdomains for deployment endpoints

Step 1: Configure Stormkit Environment

Run the following command to install Stormkit with a single command.

curl -sSL https://www.stormkit.io/install.sh | sh

Alternatively, copy the contents of this docker-compose.yaml file and create an .env file similar to this example. Make sure both live in the same directory.

Add the following environment variables to the .env file:

# Disable HTTPS in Stormkit as it is going to be handled by Cloudflare
STORMKIT_HTTPS=off

# Optional: Set custom HTTP port (default is 8888)
STORMKIT_HTTP_PORT=80

# Set your domain: must be a top-level domain as Cloudflare supports automatic certificate
# generation for top and first level domains (example.com and *.example.com). Alternatively,
# you can purchase their Advanced Certificate Manager for more complex cases.
STORMKIT_DOMAIN=my-top-level-domain.com

Restart the containers so that environment variables take effect:

docker compose down hosting workerserver && docker compose up -d hosting workerserver

Step 2: Set up Cloudflare Tunnel

Access the Cloudflare Dashboard

1. Log into your Cloudflare account
2. Navigate to Zero Trust → Networks → Tunnels
3. Click Create a tunnel
4. Choose Cloudflared and name your tunnel
5. Click Save tunnel

Install the Connector

Follow the instructions on the screen to:

• Install the connector on your local environment and
• Run the tunnel

You should see an output like this:

Then, click next to configure your hostname.

Step 3: Configure Public Hostname

In the Public Hostnames section of your tunnel:

1. Click Add a public hostname
2. Configure the following settings:
   • Subdomain: * (for wildcard support)
   • Domain: my-top-level-domain.com
   • Path: Leave blank
   • Service Type: HTTP
   • URL: localhost:80 (match your STORMKIT_HTTP_PORT)

Important Notes:

• The port in the URL must match your STORMKIT_HTTP_PORT
• Service type should be HTTP, not HTTPS

Step 4: Configure Cloudflare SSL/TLS Settings

1. Go to SSL/TLS → Overview in your Cloudflare dashboard
2. Set SSL/TLS encryption mode to Flexible

Why Flexible Mode?

• Flexible: Cloudflare ↔ Visitor (HTTPS) + Cloudflare ↔ Origin (HTTP)
• This matches our setup where Stormkit runs HTTP locally but visitors get HTTPS

Step 5: DNS Configuration

The DNS records are created automatically when you set up the public hostname. You should see:

• An A or AAAA record for your domain pointing to Cloudflare's tunnel
• Automatic wildcard support if configured

Step 6: Verify

You should be able to visit https://stormkit.your-top-level-domain.com and access the Stormkit Dashboard.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

Port Mismatch

• Ensure STORMKIT_HTTP_PORT matches the port in your Cloudflare tunnel configuration

SSL Errors

• Verify SSL/TLS mode is set to "Flexible"
• Check that STORMKIT_HTTPS=off is set

Subdomain Not Working

• Ensure you used * for the subdomain in tunnel configuration
• Consider purchasing Advanced Certificate Manager for full wildcard SSL support

Tunnel Not Connecting

• Check that cloudflared service is running
• Verify the installation token was copied correctly

This setup provides a production-like development environment while keeping everything local and under your control!