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Cloudflare Setup ​

If you use Cloudflare in front of smoxy, there are two things you need to configure to avoid conflicts: image caching and cache invalidation.

Image Optimization ​

When smoxy converts images to WebP or AVIF, it changes the Content-Type header but keeps the original file extension. Cloudflare caches based on file extension, not Content-Type - so an AVIF image may be cached under a .jpg extension, causing browsers to receive the wrong format.

Fix: Create a Cloudflare Cache Rule that bypasses cache for image files.

Cache Rule expression:

(ends_with(http.request.uri.path, ".png")) or
(ends_with(http.request.uri.path, ".jpeg")) or
(ends_with(http.request.uri.path, ".jpg")) or
(ends_with(http.request.uri.path, ".gif")) or
(ends_with(http.request.uri.path, ".webp")) or
(ends_with(http.request.uri.path, ".avif"))

Set the action to Bypass Cache for matching requests.

Additionally, if you have a Cloudflare Pro or Business plan, disable Cloudflare Polish (image optimization) to avoid double optimization.

Cache Invalidation ​

smoxy uses BAN and PURGE HTTP methods to invalidate cached content. Cloudflare can interfere with these requests in two ways:

  • BAN requests - Cloudflare's DDoS protection may block them if many are sent in a short time
  • PURGE requests - Cloudflare blocks these entirely, and no WAF rule can override this

Fix: Create a subdomain with Cloudflare's proxy disabled (DNS-only mode) and send your invalidation requests through it.

Setup ​

  1. In Cloudflare DNS, add a new record for a subdomain (e.g. smoxy.example.com)
  2. Set the proxy toggle to DNS only (grey cloud icon) - this means Cloudflare does not proxy requests to this subdomain
  3. Point the record to smoxy

Does the subdomain need to be configured in smoxy? ​

No. If your main domain (e.g. example.com) is already set up in smoxy and assigned to a zone, all subdomains are automatically routed through the same zone. The invalidation subdomain will use your existing zone configuration.

Usage ​

Send your invalidation requests to the subdomain instead of the main domain:

bash
curl -X BAN -H "secret: <token>" -H "tags: products" https://smoxy.example.com/

This bypasses Cloudflare entirely, so BAN and PURGE requests reach smoxy without being blocked.