The Cloudflare Blog – Brought to you by EmDash
Cloudflare migrated its blog to EmDash, a new CMS built for Astro, as part of a broader redesign completed on August 12, 2024.
Cloudflare redesigned its official blog with a new content management system called EmDash, launched on August 12, 2024. The migration included modernizing the interface with dark mode support and aligning the design with Cloudflare’s updated visual standards. The project also addressed long-standing user experience issues, such as relocating the email subscription form to reduce confusion with the search function. The redesign reflects Cloudflare’s practice of using its own products internally before offering them to customers.
The migration to EmDash followed Cloudflare’s internal engineering standards, which require products to be tested under real-world conditions before public release. As Cloudflare’s own first customer, the company rigorously evaluated EmDash’s performance, scalability, and usability. Early testing revealed gaps, including issues with scheduled posts, which were resolved in EmDash version 0.19.0. The platform’s ability to handle variable traffic patterns, ranging from 75 to over 5,000 requests per second, was a critical focus during the evaluation.
To ensure reliability and speed, Cloudflare implemented a multi-layered caching architecture for the blog, leveraging its own infrastructure. The setup typically serves 99.5% of static files and 70% of requests from cache, reducing database load and improving frontend performance. Performance testing was conducted using k6, an open-source tool, to simulate traffic spikes and validate the system’s resilience. The architecture prioritizes both speed and resilience, aligning with Cloudflare’s role as a web performance company.
The frontend redesign incorporated Cloudflare’s Kumo design system, creating visual consistency with other Cloudflare properties. Native support for light and dark modes was added, with theme switching tied to system preferences and an explicit toggle. Accessibility guidelines were strictly followed, and syntax highlighting was adapted to maintain legibility across themes. The updated blog now offers a cohesive reading experience that integrates seamlessly with Cloudflare’s broader ecosystem.